. 


EXCHANGE 

FFR 


FEOM    THE    PEESIDENT'S    OFFICE 
TO  THE  UNIVEESITY  LIBRARY 


COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

IN  THE  CITY  OF   NEW  YORK 


THIS  PAGEANT  WAS  TO  BE  PRESENTED  ON 
THE  EVENINGS  OF  NOVEMBER  4,  5,  6  AND  7. 
IT  SEEMED  TO  THE  COMMITTEE  IN  CHARGE, 
HOWEVER,  THAT  THE  WAR  IN  EUROPE  WOULD 
NOT  ALLOW  US  AT  THIS  TIME  TO  UNDERTAKE 
ANY  CELEBRATION  WITH  CHEERFULNESS,  AND 
THE  PAGEANT  HAS  THEREFORE  BEEN  POST 
PONED  TO  A  DATE  THAT  WILL  HEREAFTER 
BE  ANNOUNCED. 


NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

President 


October  1,  1914 


Of  this  edition   seven   hundred   and   fifty   copies   were 

printed  and  five  hundred  offered  for  sale. 

This  copy  is  number 

/to 


«; 


A  PAGEANT  OF 
THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY 

FOR   THE 

SEVEN  HUNDREDTH 
ANNIVERSARY 

OF 

ROGER  BACON 

GIVEN  BY  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


THE  PLAN  AND  THE  NOTES  BY 

JOHN  J.  COSS 

OF  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  PHILOSOPHY 
THE  TEXT  BY 

JOHN    ERSKINE 

OF  THE    DEPARTMENT  OK  ENGLISH  AND  COMPARATIVE   LITERATURE 
THE    ILLUSTRATIONS    BY 

CLAGGETT   WILSON 

OF  THE   DEPARTMENT  OF  FINE  ARTS,  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 


NEW  YORK 

COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY    PRESS 
1914 

ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


COPYRIGHT,   1914 

BY 
COLUMBIA   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 


PUBLISHED  OCTOBER,  1914 


PRINTED    FROM   TYPE    BV 

DOUGLAS   TAYLOR   ft   CO. 

NEW    YORK 


Preface 

HTHIS  Spring,  when  Columbia  University  was 
considering  some  way  to  keep  the  seven 
hundredth  year  of  Roger  Bacon's  birth,  Mr.  John  J. 
Coss,  of  the  Department  of  Philosophy,  proposed 
that  all  branches  of  the  University  should  collaborate 
in  a  pageant,  to  exhibit  Bacon's  life  and  his  signifi 
cance,  and  to  illustrate  the  age  in  which  he  lived. 
The  educative  value  of  such  an  entertainment  and 
the  inspiration  of  such  a  collaborating  between 
scholars  in  various  fields  recommended  the  plan 
at  once. 

Mr.  Coss  also  suggested  the  preliminary  scenario 
of  the  pageant,  as  well  as  the  original  idea.  Though 
modified  by  discussions  in  committee  and  changed 
here  and  there  in  the  process  of  composition,  this 
scenario  has  in  general  been  followed,  and  the  chief 
credit  for  the  pageant,  therefore,  belongs  to  Mr.  Coss. 
For  the  text  based  upon  his  plan,  I  am  responsible ; 
but  he  has  assisted  me  with  his  scholarship,  with  his 
suggestions,  and  with  his  criticisms,  and  he  has  be- 

5 


278852 


sides   planned  for   the    staging    of   the  pageant    in 
every  detail. 

Months  of  research  would  not  have  been  too 
much  to  spend  in  preparing  these  scenes.  But  since 
our  time  was  short,  we  determined  to  honor  Bacon 
with  what  scholarship  we  might  have  in  hand,  rather 
than  with  a  forced  show  of  erudition.  We  have, 
therefore,  framed  these  episodes  upon  well-known 
and  obvious  sources,  and  the  kindness  of  several 
colleagues  who  have  read  and  approved  our  manu 
script  leads  us  to  hope  we  have  made  no  serious 
blunders. 

The  wish  that  the  pageant  might  be  a  collabo 
ration  has  been  happily  fulfilled.  We  lack  space  to 
acknowledge  all  the  generous  aid  we  have  had  from 
every  part  of  the  University.  But  the  pageant 
would  not  have  been  possible,  had  it  not  been  for 
certain  tireless  workers,  who  bore  the  brunt.  Mr. 
Walter  Henry  Hall,  of  the  department  of  Music, 
has  selected  and  arranged  the  incidental  music- 
Mr.  Claggett  Wilson,  of  the  department  of  Fine 
Arts,  Teachers  College,  has  designed  all  the 
costumes  and  prepared  the  illustrations  for  this 
book.  Mr.  La  Mont  A.  Warner,  assisted  by  Mr. 
Robert  Gray,  of  the  department  of  Interior  Decora 
tion,  Teachers  College,  has  made  posters,  banners, 
and  stage  plans.  Miss  Jane  Fales,  Professor  of  the 


History  of  Costume,  Teachers  College,  has  directed 
the  making  of  the  costumes.  Mr.  E.  R.  Smith,  of 
the  Avery  Library,  has  put  at  the  disposal  of  the 
pageant  workers  his  wide  acquaintance  with  books 
on  costume  and  design.  Miss  Caroline  Fleming, 
of  the  department  of  Philosophy,  has  very  kindly 
read  the  proofs  of  this  book.  To  all  of  these  and 
to  the  friends  too  many  to  name,  I  offer  my  personal 

thanks. 

JOHN  ERSKINE 


Columbia   University 
September  i, 


The  picture  of  the  thirteenth  century  does  not  begin  until 
Part  II.  Part  I  is  introductory  and  represents  the  earlier 
cultural  elements  to  which  the  thirteenth  century  was  in 
large  measure  indebted  for  the  character  of  its  life  and 
learning. 

Averroes  (1126-1198),  the  greatest  of  the  Moorish 
philosophers,  is  chosen  as  the  central  figure  of  this  part  of 
the  pageant  because  the  summary  of  Greek  learning  found 
in  his  many  works  gained  ready  entrance  into  Christendom 
in  the  course  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  More 
than  any  other  man  he  brought  to  the  Christian  nations  an 
understanding  of  Aristotle  and  of  science. 


THE  CULTURE  OF  THE  THIRTEENTH 
CENTURY 

A    PAGEANT   OF    MEDIEVAL    LIFE 


PART  I 


PROLOGUE 

(Averroes  enters,  and  slowly  crossing  the  stage,  stops  with 

surprise  at  sight  of  the  audience.     He  walks 

towards  them  and  speaks) 


AVERROES 

Who  are  ye?     For  what  purpose  are  ye  come? 
Idling  your  hour  away,  with  curious  eyes 
To  take  your  fill  of  shadows?     Or  in  heart 
To  watch  with  me  the  old  and  patient  stars 
Still  in  their  silent  motions  unperturbed — 
Whether  we  read  their  influence  or  are  blind — 
Marching  forever  with  the  eternal  mind? 

I  am  Averroes,  a  lonely  name. 

9 


Though  from  afar  I  carried  first  the  lamp 

That  lights  your  world,  though  from  his  fading  heaven 

I  brought  down  mighty  Aristotle,  the  star 

Brightest  that  in  the  thought  of  Allah  flamed, 

Yet  I  arrive,  a  name  ye  hardly  know, 

Unreal,  unwelcome.     True  and  shining  things 

Are  ghosts,  till  love  the  blood  of  welcome  brings. 

But  the  Arabian  believer  would  not  own 
Kinship  with  me;  my  hand  too  fearless  loosed 
The  tangled  mysteries  of  soul  and  brain. 
What  by  the  eye  is  seen,  by  finger  touched, 
Or  only  by  the  still  heart  subtly  felt, — 
What  can  be  known,  all  that  on  reason  waits 
To  measure  and  explore,  I  wrenched  away 
From  vagueness  and  gave  wholly  to  the  brain. 
Though  in  the  placid  hands  of  faith  remained 
Infinity  of  hopes  and  far  desires, 
My  people  feared  me,  lest  a  greater  pride 
Than  Shaitan's  Allah's  kingdom  would  divide. 

Nor  would  the  Christians  have  me,  though  I  built 

Solid  the  floor  whereon  their  mount  of  faith 

Still  lifts.    I  gave  the  Church  another  mind; 

From  me  they  drew  fresh  weapons  and  new  dreams. 

Yet  in  their  eyes  a  pagan,  they  put  by 

Their  armourer  unthanked,  nor  learned  from  me 

More  of  this  world  than  helped  them  to  the  next, 

Nor  touched  the  pearls  of  truth  that  strew  the  earth, 

But  in  the  sea  of  fathomless  perhaps 

Would  dive  and  come  up  poor.     Would  not  the  wise, 

Heart  after  heart,  render  to  Allah  praise 

For  certain  good?  for  knowledge  most  of  all? 

Patience  is  the  reward  of  them  that  serve. 
Patiently  the  forgotten,  from  their  place 
Watch  the  clear  stars  of  truth  ride  unperturbed, 

10 


And  watching,  feed  on  comfort.     Now  I  see 
The  elder  prophets  of  the  times  I  served, 
Moments  of  day  still  circling  through  the  night, 
Fountains  of  faith  and  citadels  of  law, 
Light-bringers  all,  scholar  and  saint  and  king. 
Watch  while  they  pass  in  their  bright  wandering. 

(He  has  moved  to  the  side  of  the  stage,  and  now  raises  his 
arms  to  greet  the  vision) 


n 


In  the  culture  of  the  Middle  Ages  there  was  no  element 
so  powerful  as  the  Church.  Intellectually,  morally,  and 
politically  her  influence  dominated  the  European  peoples  for 
centuries. 

This  scene  represents  in  procession  the  important  figures 
in  the  ecclesiastical  tradition,  and  especially  calls  attention 
to  the  four  Doctors  of  the  Latin  Church. 

The  following  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers  appear  in  this 
scene: 

ST.  IGNATIUS  (d.  c.  115) 

ST.  POLYCARP  (d.  c.  155) 

ST.  JUSTIN  MARTYR  (d.  c.  163) 

ST.  IRENAEUS  (d.  c.  202) 

TERTULLIAN  (c.  150-0.  220) 

CLEMENT  OF  ALEXANDRIA  (c.  150-0.  220) 

ORIGEN  (186-253) 

ST.  CYPRIAN  OF  CARTHAGE  (d.  258) 

EUSEBIUS  OF  CAESAREA  (c.  264-0.  340) 

ST.  CYRIL  OF  JERUSALEM  (c.  315-0.  386) 

ST.  ATHANASIUS  (c.  296-0.  373) 

ST.  BASIL  OF  CAPPADOCIA  (329-379) 

ST.  GREGORY  OF  NAZIANZEN  (c.  325-0.  395) 

ST.  GREGORY  OF  NYSSA  (c.  335-0.  400) 

ST.  JOHN  CHRYSOSTOM  (347-407) 

ST.  HILARY  OF  POITIERS  (d.  368) 

ST.  AMBROSE  (d.  397) 

ST.  JEROME  (c.  340-420) 

ST.  AUGUSTINE  (354-430) 

THEODORET  (390-457) 

SOCRATES  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE  (d.  440) 

SOZOMEN    (c.  400-0.  450) 

ST.  LEO  (d.  461) 

ST.  GREGORY  THE  GREAT  (d.  604) 
ST.  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  (d.  636) 
THE  VENERABLE  BEDE  (d.  735) 
ST.  JOHN  OF  DAMASCUS  (d.  c.  754) 

12 


SCENE  I 

PROCESSION  OF  THE  CHURCH  FATHERS 

AVERROES 
I  see  the  ancient  Fathers,  the  Church  makers. 

(Voices  off  the  stage  are  heard  chanting  the  Magnificat 
in  a  Gregorian  mode.  The  Church  Fathers  enter  in  slow 
procession.  They  halt  and  face  the  audience,  as  the  four 
chief  Doctors  in  turn  reach  the  center  of  the  stage,  step 
forward  and  speak.  When  the  voices  sing,  the  procession 
slowly  moves  again) 

VOICES 

My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my  spirit  hath  re 
joiced  in  God  my  Saviour. 

For  he  hath  regarded  the  lowliness  of  his  handmaiden. 

For  behold,  from  henceforth  all  generations  shall  call  me 
blessed. 

ST.  AMBROSE 

I  am  Ambrose,  to  all  pagans  enemy. 
When  of  the  Arians  God  smote  the  heresy, 
I  was  His  rod. 

VOICES 

For  he  that  is  mighty  hath  magnified  me,  and  holy  is  his 
Name. 

And  his  mercy  is  on  them  that  fear  him  throughout  all 
generations. 

ST.  AUGUSTINE 

I  am  Augustine,  once  unbelieving. 
In  Holy  Church  I  found  for  all  men's  saving 
The  City  of  God. 

J3 


VOICES 

He  hath  shewed  strength  with  his  arm,  he  hath  scattered 
the  proud  in  the  imagination  of  their  hearts. 

He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seat,  and  hath 
exalted  the  humble  and  meek. 

ST.  JEROME 

I  am  Jerome,  the  hermit,  a  glad  instrument 
Whereby  God  made  to  spread  His  testaments, 
Comfort  to  bring. 

VOICES 

He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things,  and  the  rich 
he  hath  sent  empty  away. 

He  remembering  his  mercy  hath  holpen  his  servant  Israel, 
as  he  promised  to  our  forefathers,  Abraham  and  his  seed, 
for  ever. 

ST.  GREGORY 

I  am  Gregory,  who  enlarged  the  Church's  power. 
I  set  the  ancient  ceremony  in  order. 
I  taught  faith  to  sing. 

(Rveunt) 

VOICES 

Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost ; 

As  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be, 
world  without  end.  Amen. 


14 


I 


! 


This  scene  celebrates  the  codification  of  the  Roman  law 
by  the  Byzantine  scholars  in  December  533.  Through  the 
use  of  older  codes,  the  exclusion  of  contradictory  and  anti 
quated  decisions,  and  the  introduction  of  recent  enactments, 
commissions  appointed  by  Justinian  prepared  a  series  of 
legal  works  which  bore  his  name  and  which  profoundly  in 
fluenced  the  western  world  from  the  twelfth  century. 

The  speeches  in  this  scene  are  adapted  from  the  commis 
sions  and  from  the  constitutions  of  the  "Digest"  and  from 
a  poem  by  Paulus  Silentiarius  written  for  another  occasion. 

JUSTINIAN  (483-565)  :  Roman  Emperor  at  Constanti 
nople,  re-conqueror  of  Italy  and  northern  Africa,  builder  of 
public  works  and  churches,  including  St.  Sophia,  ardent 
churchman,  patron  of  letters,  codifier  of  laws. 

THEODORA  (0508-548)  :  'Actress,  dancer,  able  and  am 
bitious  wife  of  Justinian. 

TRIBONIAN  (0490-0547)  :  Jurist,  minister,  member  of 
the  commission  of  ten  which  prepared  the  Code,  President 
of  the  Digest-Commission  of  sixteen,  President  of  the 
Institutes-Commission  of  three. 

THEOPHILUS:  Professor  of  Law  at  the  University  of 
Constantinople,  member  of  the  Institutes-Commission. 

DOROTHEUS:  Professor  of  Law  at  the  Law  School  at 
Beyrout,  member  of  the  Institutes-Commission. 

EPIPHANIOS:  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  530-536. 
PAUL  SILENTIARIUS  :  Chamberlain,  senator,  and  poet. 
JOHN  OF  ASIA  (0505-0585) :  Historian. 
JOHN  THE  CAPPADOCIAN  :  Praetorian  Prefect. 

ANTHEMIUS  OF  TRALLES;  ISIDORUS  OF  MILETUS;  IGNA 
TIUS  :  Architects  of  St.  Sophia. 

Body-guard,  ladies  of  the  court,  priests,  jurists,  Persian 
officials. 

16 


SCENE  II 


AVERROES 
I  see  Justinian,  who  revised  the  law. 

(Enter  the  court,  and  after  them  Justinian  and  Theodora, 

who  mount  their  thrones.     Paulus  Silentiarius 

addresses  them  with  a  poem) 

PAULUS  SILENTIARIUS 

Emperor  Caesar  Flavius  Justinianus, 

Pious  and  happy, 

Renowned  conqueror  and  triumpher,  ever  august, 

Greatness  of  mind,  intelligence,  and  faith 

In  thee  we  admire.     May  God  destroy  in  wrath 

Them  that  admire  thee  not!  who  dost  bestow 

Kindness  on  kin  and  stranger,  friend  and  foe. 

Thee  we  admire  and  her  who  shares  thy  state, 

The  Empress  Theodora,  good  and  great, 

Fortunate  and  all  virtuous,  fair  and  wise. 

No  danger  hurt  thee !     Thy  defences  stand 

Less  in  thy  spears  and  shields  than  in  God's  hand. 

Christ  is  thy  counsellor;  no  enterprise — 

Law-giving,  nor  planting  of  cities  east  and  west, 

Building  of  churches,  waging  of  wars,  nor,  best, 

Ceasing  from  battles — without  Him  begins; 

His  arm  with  thine,  not  thine  alone,  the  victory  wins. 

Now  to  thy  wonders  add  this  miracle — 

Teach  us  fit  words  wherein  thy  deeds  to  tell, 

If  thy  vast  worth  shall  otherwise  be  seen 

Than  in  our  love  for  thee  and  for  thy  Queen. 


JUSTINIAN 

Paulus  Silentiarius,  Chamberlain, 

Senator:  thou  hast  spoken  like  a  poet — 

A  good  man,  yet  a  poet.     We  do  indeed 

Govern  by  the  authority  of  God, 

In  His  name  waging  war,  advancing  peace, 

And,  by  His  strength  vouchsafed,  building  the  state. 

First  of  His  aids  on  earth  we  count  the  law. 

Therefore,  because  our  statutes,  handed  down 

From  ancient  Romulus  who  founded  Rome, 

Were  sore  confused,  spreading  interminably 

Beyond  the  reach  of  patience  even  to  read, 

Our  will  was  to  amend  and  make  them  clear, 

And  into  one  book  gather  them  all.     We  chose 

For  this  hard  task  a  most  distinguished  man, 

Tribonianus,  master  of  the  offices, 

Ex-quaestor  of  our  sacred  palace,  ex-consul ; 

We  chose  Theophilus  and  Dorotheus, 

Illustrious  and  most  eloquent  professors, 

With  other  brilliant  and  hardworking  men. 

Now,  conscript  Fathers,  and  all  men  in  the  world, 

Hear  the  new  law  Tribonian  gives  to  Rome. 


TRIBONIAN 

Emperor  Caesar  Flavius  Justinianus,  we  lay  before  thee 
the  Roman  law,  from  the  founding  of  the  city  to  the  days 
of  thy  rule,  one  thousand  and  four  hundred  years,  now 
brought  into  one  harmony,  without  repeating  or  contra 
diction,  with  no  two  rules  for  any  question.  We  have  cor 
rected  what  in  the  old  books  was  misplaced  or  superfluous 
or  unfinished,  and  what  is  obsolete  we  have  left  out.  That 
the  writings  in  this  book  may  never  beget  ambiguity,  we 
have  used  no  trickery  of  speech  nor  compendious  conun 
drums.  Yet  we  have  so  honored  the  ancient  authorities 
that  we  have  here  mentioned  the  names  of  all  who  were 
learned  in  the  law;  from  thirty-nine  of  them  have  we 
quoted,  and  we  have  read  two  thousand  treatises.  All  this 
we  have  concluded  in  five  years,  though  we  had  not  ex 
pected  to  finish  it  in  ten. 

We  have  set  forth  one  system  of  law  for  all  men.  For 
justice  is  the  constant  purpose  which  gives  to  every  man 
his  due,  and  the  knowledge  of  law  should  be  the  knowledge 

18 


of  the  just  and  of  the  unjust.  The  laws  here  ordered  teach 
us  to  live  honestly,  to  injure  no  one,  to  render  each  man 
what  is  his.  To  thee  we  offer  them,  and  to  Almighty  God, 
and  to  Him  we  give  thanks,  Who  doth  vouchsafe  to  thee 
successful  waging  of  war,  the  enjoyment  of  honorable 
peace,  and  the  giving  of  the  best  laws,  not  only  for  our  own 
age,  but  for  all  time. 

JUSTINIAN 

Conscript  Fathers,  and  all  men  in  all  lands, 
Now  render  God  your  praises,  Who  would  keep 
Works  of  enduring  benefit  for  our  hands. 
Revere  these  laws,  and  let  the  old  ones  sleep. 


(Exeunt) 


The  previous  scenes  have  shown  the  continuation  of  the 
Greek  and  Roman  tradition.  This  episode  brings  before 
us  the  Germanic  peoples,  forerunners  of  the  modern  na 
tions.  Charles  the  Great  is  here  portrayed  as  a  friend  of 
learning,  the  patron  of  the  schools  which  ivere  to  educate 
the  barbarians  in  the  heritage  of  the  past  and  so  prepare 
for  the  culture  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  date  of  the 
scene  is  about  787.  The  speeches  are  adapted  from  a 
capitulary  of  Charles  on  education,  from  the  biography  by 
Einhard,  and  from  the  dialogue  between  Pippin  and  Alcuin 
quoted  by  Guizot. 

CHARLES  THE  GREAT  (742-814)  :  King  of  the  Franks, 
Roman  Emperor  from  800. 

HILDEGARD  (759-783)  i  Wife  of  Charles. 

PIPPIN  THE  HUNCHBACK;  CHARLES  (772-811) ;  PIPPIN, 
King  of  Italy  (777-810);  Louis  THE  Pious  (778-840); 
HROTRUD,  a  daughter  (772-810) :  Children  of  Charles. 

ALCUIN  (735-804)  :  A  Northumbrian,  student  at  York, 
master  of  the  Palace  School  (782-796),  Abbot  of  St. 
Martin  in  Tours. 

Scholars  of  the  Court  and  School:  PETER  OF  PISA,  gram 
marian;  PAUL  THE  DEACON,  a  Lombard  historian;  ARNO, 
Bishop  of  Salzburg,  Archbishop  of  Orleans;  PAUL,  Patri 
arch  of  Aquilei;  CLEMENT  THE  SCOT;  EINHARD,  the 
biographer  of  Charles  the  Great;  THEODOLF,  the  Spanish 
poet;  ANGILBERT,  son-in-law  of  Charles  and  father  of 
Nithard  the  historian. 

Soldiers,  ladies  of  the  court. 


20 


SCENE  III 

CHARLES  THE  GREAT  AND  ALCUIN 

AVERROES 

King  Charles  the  Great,  who  warred  against  the  Moors, 
Yet  welcomed  learning  for  his  people's  sake. 

(Enter  the  court,  and  last  of  all  Charles  the  Great,  who 
mounts  his  throne) 

CHARLES  THE  GREAT 
Paul  the  Deacon,  read  them  the  order. 


Charles,  by  the  Grace  of  God  King  of  the  Franks  and  of 
the  Lombards,  and  Patrician  of  the  Romans,  to  all  the 
faithful : 

We  command  that  the  bishoprics  and  monasteries,  com 
mitted  by  Christ's  favor  to  our  charge,  shall  be  given  not 
only  to  a  regular  and  holy  way  of  life,  but  also  to  the  study 
of  letters;  and  that  all  men  everywhere  shall  teach  and 
learn  as  they  are  able  and  as  Heaven  permits.  For  as  by 
obedience  come  good  morals,  so  by  study  come  good  sen 
tences  ;  and  they  who  would  please  God  in  anything  may  as 
well  begin  with  their  speech.  A  good  deed,  doubtless,  is 
better  than  a  just  word,  but  a  man  must  know  what  is  right 
before  he  can  do  it.  Therefore,  let  him  who  has  good  in 
tentions  learn  to  say  what  he  means.  For  if  he  lack  skill 
to  speak  or  write,  how  shall  he  understand  the  Scriptures? 
And  if  he  mistake  the  word,  how  shall  he  grasp  the  doc 
trine?  Apply  yourselves,  therefore,  to  the  study  of  letters, 
and  let  those  who  know  instruct  those  who  will  learn. 

21 


CHARLES  THE  GREAT 

Ye  know  me,  a  strong  fighter,  not  a  clerk; 
Easier  fifty  Saracens  than  a  book. 
Yet  it  behooves  no  man  to  leave  unread 
What  God  has  written  by  the  pen  of  saints, 
And  with  His  own  hand  written  in  the  stars. 
I  know  the  stars,  and  somewhat  I  can  count. 
Nightly  I  trace  and  trace  my  tablets  over, 
So  with  hard  study  sometime  I  shall  write — 
Shall  I  not,  Alcuin?     I  began  too  old, 
Perchance,  but  do  ye  now  begin,  younger 
And  wiser.     Alcuin,  master  of  my  school, 
Will  teach  us  all.     Where  is  that  son  of  mine? 
Question  the  master!     Let  us  hear  good  words 
Well  handled,  and  truth  sprouting  out  of  them. 
Begin ! 

PIPPIN 
What  is  winter? 


ALCUIN 

The  exile  of  spring. 

PIPPIN 

What  is  spring? 

ALCUIN 
The  painter  of  the  earth. 

PIPPIN 

What  is  summer? 

ALCUIN 

The  power  which  clothes  the  earth,  and  ripens  fruit. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  autumn? 

22 


ALCUIN 
The  granary  of  the  year. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  the  year? 

ALCUIN 
The  chariot  of  the  world. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  life? 

ALCUIN 

Happiness  for  the  happy,  misery  for  the  miserable,  the 
expectation  of  death. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  death? 

ALCUIN 

An  inevitable  event,  a  doubtful  journey,  a  subject  of  tears 
for  the  living,  the  confirmation  of  wills,  the  robber  of  men. 

CHARLES  THE  GREAT 
Good! 

PIPPIN 
What  is  the  earth? 

ALCUIN 

The  mother  of  all  that  grows,  the  nurse  of  all  that  exists, 
the  granary  of  life,  the  gulf  that  swallows  up  all  things. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  faith? 

ALCUIN 

The  assurance  of  unknown  and  marvelous  things. 

23 


What  is  marvelous? 


ALCUIN 


I  saw  the  other  day  a  man  standing,  a  dead  man  walking, 
a  man  walking  who  had  never  breathed. 

PIPPIN 
What  is  it? 

ALCUIN 
An  image  in  the  water. 

PIPPIN 
Of  course!    I've  seen  that. 

ALCUIN 

Now  I  will  question  you.  One  who  is  unknown  to  me 
has  talked  with  me,  having  no  tongue  and  no  voice;  he 
never  was,  he  never  will  be,  I  never  heard  him,  I  never 
knew  him.  (A  pause)  What  do  I  mean? 

PIPPIN 
Was  it  a  dream,  master? 

ALCUIN 

It  was.  I  will  question  you  again.  What  is  that,  which 
at  the  same  time  is  and  is  not? 

PIPPIN 
Nothing. 

CHARLES  THE  GREAT 

Enough.    Well  done.     Ye  see  how  knowledge  comes. 
Study  to  fill  your  heads  with  speech  like  this. 

(Exeunt) 


n 

o 

cr 


O 

to 


O 
O 


This  scene  in  the  Golden  Age  of  the  Caliphate  represents 
Al  Ma'mun,  greatest  of  Abbasid  Caliphs,  at  the  height  of 
his  power.  It  calls  attention  to  the  worldly  dominion  and  to 
the  culture  of  the  Eastern  peoples, — of  the  Semitic  Arabs, 
and  more  particularly  of  the  Iranian  Persians,  who,  though 
not  the  princes,  were  the  real  pozver  in  the  intellectual  life 
of  the  Caliphate  in  Baghdad.  Poets,  translators,  and  scien 
tists  of  Persian  race,  and  now  and  then  an  Arabian  and 
Christian  scholar,  studied  and  wrote  in  Baghdad  from  the 
eighth  to  the  twelfth  centuries;  and  through  their  writings 
and  those  of  the  Moors  and  Jews  of  Spain  the  peoples  of 
the  West  received  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
a  knozvledge  of  the  ancient  philosophers  and  of  the  scien 
tific  discoveries  of  the  past. 

The  time  of  the  scene  is  about  830.  The  speeches  are 
based  on  various  histories  of  Baghdad  and  the  Arabs. 

AL  MA'MUN  (786-833) :   Caliph  813-833. 
HASAN  IBN  SAHL  :  A  Persian  Visir  of  Ma'mun. 

TAHIR,  THE  AMBIDEXTER:  General  of  Ma'mun,  Gov 
ernor  of  Khurasan  from  820. 

ISHAQ  IBN  IBRAHIM  AL  MAUSILI  :  A  Persian  singer  and 
poet,  companion  of  Ma'mun.  YA  'QUB  IBN  ISHAQ  AL 
KINDI  (d.  864)  :  An  Arab  physician,  scientist,  philosopher. 
IBN  QUTAIBA  (d.  828)  :  An  Arab  historian  and  literary 
critic.  ABU  ZAID  HUNAIN  IBN  ISHAQ,  OF  HIRA  (c.  809- 
873)  :  A  Christian  Arab,  physician,  greatest  of  all  trans 
lators  of  the  Classics.  ABU-'L  ATAHIA  (d.  828)  :  A  poet. 
IBN  SA'D  (d.  845)  :  Secretary  to  Al-Waqidi,  historian  of 
Muslim  conquests.  SAHL  IBN  HARUN  :  Private  secretary 
of  Ma'mun,  an  orthodox  Muslim,  director  of  the  "House 
of  Wisdom."  MUHAMMED;  AHMAD;  HASAN  YAHYA  IBN 
ABI  MANSUR:  Members  of  the  "House  of  Wisdom" 
("Treasure  of  Wisdom"). 

Physicians,  warriors,  representatives  from  the  Turks  of 
Central  Asia,  from  a  King  of  India,  from  the  Chinese,  the 
Egyptians,  and  the  Byzantines. 

26 


SCENE  IV 

THE  CALIPH  OF  BAGHDAD  AND  THE  HOUSE 
OF  WISDOM 

AVERROES 

I  see  that  Caliph,  the  wisdom  lover, 
Who  honored  the  supreme  philosopher. 

(Enter  the  court  and  the  scholars,  and  last  the  Caliph,  who 
mounts  his  throne.     The  Grand  Vizir  Hasan  speaks) 

HASAN 

Vicegerent  of  God,  Sultan  of  God  on  earth, 
Behold  thy  House  of  Wisdom  at  thy  feet ! 
They,  gathered  from  all  places  in  the  world, 
With  bloom  of  knowledge  make  thy  palace  sweet — 
What  heals  the  sick,  what  metals  turn  to  gold, 
And  whither  sails  through  heaven  the  starry  fleet. 
Speak  to  them,  Shadow  of  God !     As  once  to  thee 
The  vision  entered,  marvelous  and  true — 
Great  Aristotle,  throned  in  a  dream — 
And  the  divine  truth-hunger  on  thee  grew, 
Prince  of  the  Faithful,  now  our  vision  be, 
Look  on  us,  and  our  love  of  truth  renew. 

THE  CALIPH  MA'MUN 

Translators  of  the  ancients,  of  Aristotle, 
Plato,  Plotinus,  Galen,  Hippocrates, 
Learned  and  practised  in  the  craft  of  healing, 
Light  of  my  days !     In  you  the  city  lives, 
Baghdad,  of  old  by  charmed  rivers  set, 
After  the  shock  of  war  rebuilt  more  fair 
Than  when  my  joyous  father,  great  Harun, 
Delighted  in  its  streets,  a  king  disguised. 
Hither  the  boats  of  the  Euphrates  come, 

27 


Long  caravans  from  Egypt  through  the  plains, 
Hither  the  wares  of  China  overseas, 
And  bales  from  Mosul  down  the  Tigris  borne, 
Good  fortune  marches  on  us  by  all  paths, 
But  Time,  alas,  marches  with  swifter  feet ! 
Life  is  a  splendid  robe,  patterned  too  short, 
Our  poets  sing.     Only  the  mind  endures, 
And  with  that  wealth  ye  make  my  city  great. 
Yea,  all  its  treasure  of  enchanted  lanes 
And  palace-roofs  agleam,  is  to  the  wise 
Only  a  setting  for  more  precious  thought — 
A  shrine  for  thee,  Al  Kindi,  sage  and  good. 
Thou  on  a  dead  philosophy  didst  breathe, 
Thou  art  its  life.     When  the  old  cunning  failed 
Of  medicine,  thou  didst  restore  the  art. 
Happiness  find  thee  here,  and  length  of  days ! 

AL  KINDI 

Sultan  of  God  and  comrade  of  the  wise, 

I  and  my  fellows  glean  from  ancient  minds 

Knowledge  for  thee  in  whom  all  knowledge  dwells. 

I  lay  the  art  of  healing  in  thy  hand, 

Old  as  the  world,  but  never  till  Al  Kindi 

Has  one  been  master  of  it.     How  to  cure, 

Some  say,  only  tradition  tells,  and  some 

Hold  that  by  trial  only  comes  the  skill ; 

But  by  the  inward  principles  of  things 

The  true  physician  works  unerringly. 

Familiar  with  the  harmony  of  drugs 

As  the  lute-player  with  the  strings  in  tune, 

We  know  what  properties  of  saving  herbs 

Match  with  the  ills  of  body  or  of  blood ; 

Out  of  disease  we  pluck  untroubled  health, 

Life  out  of  death.     We  serve  thee,  O  Ma'mun, 

And  all  thy  tribe.     Enjoy  thy  heart's  desire ! 

Long  may  thy  House  of  Wisdom  light  the  land. 

THE  CALIPH  MA'MUN 
Allah,  that  blesses  all,  increase  the  light. 


(Exeunt) 
28 


EPILOGUE 

(W 'hen  the  stage  is  cleared,  Averroes  remains  standing 

with  bowed  head.     His  two  sons  enter. 

The  elder  speaks) 

SON 

Father,  thy  time  is  past ;  thou  wanderest  too ; 
Thou  art  with  the  forgotten  stars. 

AVERROES 

My  sons, 

Who  would  not  wait  beyond  his  hour,  to  watch 
The  happier  dawns  and  wiser  hours  to  be? 
I,  whom  the  faithful  feared,  this  faith  do  hold — 
Truth  within  truth,  Time's  cycles  shall  unfold. 

(Exeunt) 


In  the  second  part  of  the  pageant  the  social  and  indus 
trial  life  of  the  thirteenth  century  is  presented,  and  Roger 
Bacon  appears  in  all  the  scenes. 

Of  Bacon's  life  we  know  little.  Even  the  dates  of  his 
birth  and  death,  1214  and  1294,  are  approximate.  His 
earlier  years,  perhaps  until  1234,  were  spent  in  Oxford, 
where  he  heard  lectures.  Like  most  theologians  of  his  time 
he  went  to  Paris  for  his  Doctorate.  Shortly  after  taking 
his  degree,  certainly  not  before  1245,  he  joined  the  Fran 
ciscan  order  of  friars.  About  1250  he  returned  to  Oxford, 
from  whence  in  1257  Bonaventura,  at  that  time  head  of  his 
Order,  called  him  to  Paris.  How  he  was  treated  there  we 
do  not  know.  Tradition  represents  him  as  imprisoned.  At 
worst,  he  may  have  suffered  some  restriction  of  his  teaching. 
In  1267  he  was  asked  by  Pope  Clement  IV.  to  submit  the 
results  of  his  labors.  Within  a  year  he  wrote  the  "Opus 
Majus,"  its  supplement,  the  "Opus  Minus,"  and  its  intro 
duction,  the  "Opus  Tertium." 

How  his  works  were  received  we  do  not  know.  To-day 
we  see  in  them  much  that  conforms  to  Scholastic  tradition, 
much  that  is  false  or  of  no  consequence  when  judged  by 
our  own  standards,  much  that  was  novel  to  his  age,  yet  not 
championed  by  him  alone.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  pages 
which  he  has  left  there  breathes  a  spirit  critical  of  the  life 
and  learning  of  his  times,  eager  to  discover  the  causes  of 
human  error  and  to  correct  them  by  detailed  investigation. 
He  was  impatient  of  ignorance  and  pedantry,  and  he  was 
indiscriminate  in  his  criticism. 

A  single  reference,  and  that  not  altogether  above  sus 
picion,  tells  us  that  Bacon  was  imprisoned  in  1278.  His 
theology,  or  his  difficult  temper,  rather  than  his  scientific 
teaching,  probably  should  be  viewed  as  the  cause  of  his 
trouble.  By  1292  he  was  writing  and  teaching  again.  He 
died  in  Oxford  and  was  buried  there  in  1294. 

30 


PART  II 


PROLOGUE 

ROGER  BACON 

Ye  who  on  perished  time  complacent  look 

And  count  them  fortunate,  though  born  too  soon, 

Who  had  your  thoughts,  your  knowledge,  and  your  dreams, 

Tasting  the  feast  ere  the  full  board  was  spread — 

Know  that  those  pioneers,  the  path-breakers, 

With  pity  look  toward  you,  who  break  no  path, 

But  down  the  track  of  custom  take  your  way. 

Wrapped  in  a  seed  of  quaintness  do  ye  find 

Promise  of  your  perfections,  and  in  me 

A  first  crude  sample  of  the  modern  man? 

I,  Roger  Bacon,  bid  you  contemplate 

The  brave  outreaching  spirit  of  my  days, 

Whereof  ye  are  the  pallid  consequence 

And  shadowy  conceit.     The  idle  flower 

Too  long  insults  with  praise  the  rooted  tree 

For  coming  first.     They  only  who  begin, 

Who  break  the  shell  of  precedent,  and  earn 

Integrity  of  knowledge  for  reward, 

Come  when  they  will,  they  are  the  modern  men. 

They  must  companion  oft  with  echo-makers, 

Tradition-keepers,  the  timid,  cautious  ones, 

Superfluous  and  inconvenient  ghosts 

Of  what  a  man  should  be.     I  know  the  kind ! 

I  felt  the  tides  of  knowledge  turn  in  me 

From  the  intaking  of  reflected  truth 

To  the  outgoing  quest  adventurous 

Of  truth  itself,  whose  will  is  to  be  sought; 

I  felt  the  stirrings  in  me  of  new  pangs 

And  agonies  of  light,  and  therein  strove 

Prophetic  all  the  strength  that  after  me 

Wrestled  with  angels.     Fellow  and  friend  went  by, 

31 


Of  these  embattled  issues  unaware  ; 

I  pitied  them,  as  things  by  nature  doomed, 

For  in  the  sun  then  laboring  up  to  dawn, 

No  more  should  folk  so  feeble  run  about 

Calling  the  dead  to  do  their  thinking  for  them. 

My  hope  delays  —  still  is  the  dawn  put  off. 

Ye  that  now  hear  me,  are  ye  modern  all? 

No  comfortable  ghost  among  you?     Should  I  be 

In  the  wide  world  less  solitary  now? 


Look  on  the  face  those  human  seasons  wore, 

What  mingled  light  and  color,  mirth  and  love, 

When  silent  in  the  crowd  I  watched  and  thought. 

I  saw  the  fiery  cross,  lifted  in  anger, 

March  against  unbelief,  God's  sepulchre  ; 

I  heard  the  courtly  maker  and  his  lute 

Warring  with  song  against  his  lady's  heart; 

The  new-born  joy  and  dignity  of  toil 

Came  sounding  on,  in  brotherhood  majestic, 

While  the  great  lord,  to  hold  his  vassals  true, 

Bound  them  with  accidental  loyalties. 

I  saw  the  world  astir,  life  at  the  quick, 

But  turned  aside,  and  in  a  quiet  room 

Nobler  accomplishment  far  off  prepared. 

Look  kindly  back  on  those  departed  times, 

And  be  not  proud;  those  times  ask  much  of  you. 

(Exit) 


o 

•o 
o 

>— 
3 
3 


ft) 

3 
0. 


O 

*1 

c 

V) 

fi) 


The  Crusaders  of  the  thirteenth  and  of  the  tzvo  previous 
centuries  were  sometimes  princes,  sometimes  adventurers, 
sometimes  mere  land-seekers,  sometimes  members  of  orders 
sworn  to  save  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  Infidels,  some 
times  friars  and  pilgrims,  sometimes  even  holy-women  and 
little  children.  Religious  fervor,  party  hatred,  desire  for 
commercial  gain  and  papal  power  each  played  its  part  in 
sending  the  West  in  arms  against  the  East.  Whatever  the 
reason  of  their  going,  all  the  Crusaders  at  times  must  have 
felt  that  deep  religious  sentiment  which  is  difficult  to  dis 
sociate  from  the  life  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  hymn  of  this  scene  is  the  song  of  the  first  Crusaders. 
The  words  and  the  music  are  both  dated  about  /op5.  The 
speech  of  the  Pope  is  adapted  from  a  passage  in  Joinville. 

THE  KNIGHTS  HOSPITALLERS,  called  also  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  of  Jerusalem.  They  were  established  sometime 
prior  to  1113  and  wore  a  red  sure  oat  with  a  white  Maltese 
cross. 

THE  KNIGHTS  TEMPLARS.  They  were  established  in 
i  up  and  wore  a  white  sure  oat  with  a  long  red  cross. 

THE  TEUTONIC  KNIGHTS.  They  were  established  in 
1190,  and  wore  a  white  surcoat  with  a  black  cross. 

KNIGHTS  OUTSIDE  THE  ORDERS. 

INNOCENT  III  (1160-1216):  Greatest  of  mediaeval 
popes,  friend  of  the  begging  friars. 

ST.  FRANCIS  OF  ASSISI  (1182-1226)  :  First  of  the  Fran 
ciscans. 

ST.  DOMINIC  (1170-1221)  :  Founder  of  the  Dominicans. 
Pilgrims.     Friars. 


34 


SCENE  I 


THE  CRUSADERS 

( The  Crusaders  enter  singing  and  their  leaders  take  their 
stand  in  the  center  of  the  stage) 

CRUSADERS 

Jerusalem  mirabilis, 
Urbs  beatior  aliis, 
Quam  permanens  optabilis, 
Gaudentibus  te  angelis. 

(Pope  Innocent  III  advances  to  the  center  of  the  stage  and 
lifts  up  a  cross) 


Brothers,  behold  the  honor  God  has  done  you ! 
Chosen  in  this  high  enterprise,  ye  go 
To  the  deliverance  of  our  blessed  Lord. 
Heaven  is  your  aid,  as  ye  Heaven's  aid  would  be, 
And  them  whom  God  will  help,  no  man  can  harm. 

CRUSADERS 

Illuc  debemus  pergere, 
Nostros  honores  vendere, 
Templum  Dei  acquirere, 
Saracenos  destruere. 

(Exeunt) 


35 


The  court  of  Frederick  II  in  southern  Italy  presents  a 
striking  contrast  to  the  scene  before  it.  Gay,  irreligious, 
pleasure  loving,  filled  with  the  learning  of  the  Saracens,  and 
graced  by  care-free  Bohemians  from  all  Europe,  the  court 
was  frowned  upon  by  the  Pope;  and  the  Emperor  was 
more  than  once  excommunicated.  In  poetry,  in  art,  in 
science,  and  in  law  Frederick's  court  was,  however,  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  date  of  the  scene  is  about  1225.  The  first  song  is 
by  Giraut  de  Borneil  and  is  given  in  the  translation  of 
Justin  H.  Smith  ("Troubadours  at  Home,"  Putnam).  The 
second  song  is  by  Neidhart  von  Reuenthal.  The  music  of 
the  songs  is  that  written  for  them  in  the  twelfth  and  thir 
teenth  centuries. 

FREDERICK  II  (1194-1250):  King  of  Sicily.  Holy 
Roman  Emperor  after  1220,  King  of  Jerusalem.  "Ger 
man  by  blood,  Italian  by  birth,  Arab  by  training."  Patron 
of  arts  and  sciences,  law  giver,  unwilling  Crusader. 

HENRY  (b.  1221) ;  ENZIO  (b.  1220) :  Sons  of  Frederick. 
RICHARD:  High  Chamberlain. 

NEIDHART  VON  REUENTHAL  (first  half  i$th  century): 
a  Minnesinger. 

A  TROUBADOUR. 

Two  SARACEN  DANCING  GIRLS. 

PIER  DELLA  VIGNA  (1190-1249)  :  Jurist,  first  sonneteer 
of  Italy,  favorite  of  Frederick.  THEODORE:  The  Em 
peror's  philosopher.  THE  PRAEPOSTIUS:  Head  of  Fred 
erick's  school  of  Medicine  at  Salerno.  LEONARDO  FIBONACCI 
OF  PISA  (b.  1175)  :  A  mathematician.  ANTOLI,  THE  JEW: 
Translator  of  Aver  roes.  MICHAEL  THE  SCOT  (c.  1170-0. 
1235)  :  Alchemist,  astrologer,  necromancer,  physician, 
translator.  HERMAN  THE  GERMAN  (c.  1200-1270)  : 
Translator  of  Averroes  and  Aristotle. 

Saracen  men  at  arms,  Teutonic  Knights,  Moors,  Sicilians. 

36 


SCENE  II 

TROUBADOURS  AND  MINNESINGERS  AT  THE 
COURT  OF  FREDERICK  II 

(Enter  the  court,  after  them  the  Emperor,  ivho  mounts 

the  throne) 

FREDERICK 
Are  the  troubadours  here? 

COURT  CHAMBERLAIN 
All  but  Elia  Cairel. 

FREDERICK 
Why  comes  he  not? 

COURT  CHAMBERLAIN 

He  answered,  "Let  my  Emperor  take  the  cross 
As  he  hath  promised  Holy  Church.  A  Knight 
Fights  out  of  doors ;  the  women  keep  the  house." 

( The  Emperor  recovers  from  his  surprise  at  the  rebuke,  and 
continues  nonchalantly) 

FREDERICK 

Always  the  men  go  singing  to  the  wars, 
The  women  without  glory  wait  at  home. 
Is  not  the  waiting  brave? 

SARACEN  DANCING  GIRL 

Yea,  men  please  God, 

They  see  the  world,  they  get  themselves  a  name ! 
We  wait  at  home  like  children  and  behave, 
Or  hear  the  troubadour,  who  thrives  on  heartaches, 
Warble  his  latest  pain. 

37 


FREDERICK 

Thou  needst  not  hear  him; 
There  are  enough  of  us  who  like  his  song. 

SARACEN  DANCING  GIRL 

Signor,  I  see  far  off  a  happier  age 
When  women  shall  have  free  and  useful  hours, 
No  longer  the  mere  audience  of  the  lute, 
Nor  parcel  of  that  household  furniture 
Their  masters  leave  behind ! 

FREDERICK 

Wouldst  change  things  so? 

If  ye  would,  the  men  won't!     Come,  Sir  Troubadour; 
How  fares  thy  study  in  the  art  of  love  ? 
Art  thou  an  aspirant,  at  the  threshold  kneeling? 
A  suppliant,  low-knocking  at  the  door? 
Or  dost  thou  hear  her  voice,  as  suitors  hear? 
Or  dost  thou  enter,  laureate  of  love? 

TROUBADOUR 

I  will  sing  an  aubade  or  dawn  song,  wherein  first  the 
friend  speaks  who  keeps  watch  over  the  lover  and  his  lady. 

(Sings) 

0  glorious  king,  true  radiance  and  light ; 

Lord,  powerful  God,  be  pleased  with  gracious  might 
To  guard  my  friend,  for  since  the  night  descended 
He  turns  not  back  from  perils  where  he  wended. 
And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

Fair  friend, — asleep,  or  wakeful  in  delight, 
Serenely  rouse,  nor  slumber  more  to-night! 
For  in  the  east  the  star  hath  well  ascended 
That  brings  the  day ;  I  know  that  night  is  ended, 
And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

1  call,  fair  friend.     Oh,  let  my  singing  warn, 

And  sleep  no  more!     The  birds  that  watch  for  morn 
Begin  to  chant,  and  'mid  the  thicket  hover; 
I  fear  the  rival  will  find  out  the  lover, — 
And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

38 


Fair  friend,  the  window !     Look,  and  do  not  scorn 
The  counselling  stars  that  scarce  the  heavens  adorn! 
That  I  am  right,  in  those  pale  fires  discover, 
Else  yours  a  loss  you  never  will  recover, 
And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

I  have  not  slept,  fair  friend,  since  you  were  there, 
But  on  my  knees  have  made  unceasing  prayer 
That  Mary's  Son  would  grant  you  His  protection, 
And  give  you  back  to  my  sincere  affection, 
And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

Fair  friend,  remember  how  at  yonder  stair 

You  begged  and  prayed  that  I  would  sleep  forbear, 

And  watch  all  night  in  dutiful  subjection; 

You  slight  me  now,  you  scorn  the  recollection, 

And  soon  will  come  the  morning. 

(Speaks) 
Now  the  lover  answers  from  within. 

(Sings) 

My  fair  sweet  friend,  such  joys  my  coming  stay, 

I  would  there  were  no  dawning  and  no  day ; 

Within  my  arms  the  loveliest  form  reposes 

That  earth  e'er  saw ;  they're  hardly  worth  two  roses, — 

That  rival  and  the  morning! 

SARACEN  DANCING  GIRL 

You  look  not  so  love-lucky  as  you  sing. 

I  swear  none  ever  loved  you!     A  lute-warrior! 

Our  hands  are  for  the  hands  that  fight  with  swords. 

TROUBADOUR 

Fair  one,  they  say  love  never  is  deserved — 
Neither  the  joys  nor  punishments  of  love. 
Now  I  deserved  neither  my  lady's  heart 
Nor  thy  tongue. 

FREDERICK 
Peace!     Will  another  sing? 

39 


THE  MINNESINGER,   NEIDHART  VON 

REUENTHAL 
(Sings) 

Welcome,  Summer,  long-desired, 
Fair  befall  the  f ruithf ul  hour ! 
May,  the  merry  month,  begins 
To  set  the  world  in  flower. 

He  that  asks  a  little  joy, 
Lo,  the  earth  with  him  is  glad, — 
Shadowy  wood,  and  sunlit  field, 
And  meadow  wonder-clad. 

There  the  birds  are  singing  now, 
Silent  once  in  ice  and  snow. 
Sing  to  the  May,  your  praises  sing ! 
Winter,  hearing,  faster  shivers 
Toward  the  long  ago. 

FREDERICK 

Damsel,  wilt  thou  adventure  wit  again? 
Or  shall  we  let  this  singer  go  unmocked? 
Yea,  let  us  leave  off  mocking,  and  consider 
How  we  may  smooth  yon  old  and  angry  Pope. 
Elia  Cairel  is  right — vows  must  be  kept ; 
I  must  prepare  some  day  to  take  the  cross. 

(Exeunt) 


H 

EP 
n 

O 
S' 

!•»> 

3? 

c 
<» 


O 
o 

c 


o 
X* 


The  mediaeval  craft-gilds  were  an  important  feature  of 
the  industrial  life  of  Europe  from  the  twelfth  century.  All 
the  workers  in  one  trade  organized  for  common  worship* 
common  commercial  protection,  and  mutual  personal  bene 
fit.  They  had  charters,  laws,  and  symbols  of  their  trade; 
they  regulated  the  amount,  quality,  and  price  of  the  work  of 
their  members  and  stood  sponsor  for  their  good  behavior. 

These  craft-gilds  developed  alongside  of  the  merchant- 
gilds  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries.  The  mer 
chant-gilds  were  unions  of  all  those  within  a  town  who 
owned  land  and  were  interested  in  trade.  They  arose  as 
guardians  of  the  peace,  and  as  such  fostered  commerce. 
They  were  chartered  by  lords  and  kings,  and  took  to  them 
selves  the  right  to  regulate  all  sales  to  those  within  the  town 
and  all  purchases  from  those  without  it.  As  towns  grew 
and  industries  increased  and  specialised,  many  workmen 
who  were  excluded  from  the  merchant-gilds  organized  the 
craft-gilds.  The  groups  of  those  interested  in  the  same 
trades  gradually  acquired  the  civil  powers  which  the  older 
gilds  had  possessed,  and  soon  the  craft-gilds,  not  the  one 
merchant-gild,  stood  as  the  guardian  of  the  welfare  of  the 
town. 

Craft-gilds  developed  in  much  the  same  way  in  British 
and  in  continental  toivns.  London  and  Paris  probably  pre 
sented  the  greatest  complexity  of  organization  in  the  thir 
teenth  century,  but  smaller  towns  in  England,  Scotland,  the 
Low  Countries,  France,  Germany,  and  Italy  displayed  much 
the  same  industrial  situation. 


SCENE  HI 

MEDIAEVAL  INDUSTRY 
A  PROCESSION  OF  THE  GILDS  OF  LONDON 

The  Clothing  Gilds 

The  Weavers  The  Drapers 

The  Dyers  The  Tailors 

The  Fullers  The  Glovers 

The  Cloth  Workers  The  Shoemakers 

The  Cobblers 

The  Food  Gilds 

The  White  Bakers  The  Butchers 

The  Brown  Bakers  The  Fish-mongers 

The  Brewers  The  Wine   Merchants 

The  Pepperers 

The  Building  Gilds 

The  Bricklayers  The  Plasterers 

The  Joiners  The  Pavers 

The  Carpenters  The  Glaziers 

The  Painters 

Various  Gilds 

The  Innholders  The  Cordwainers 

The  Goldsmiths  The  Barbers,  Chirurgeons, 

The  Silversmiths  and  Peruke-makers 

The  Musicians  The  Wax  Chandlers 

The  Bookbinders  The  Stationers 

The  Basket-makers 


43 


The  thirteenth  century  was  the  time  of  Magna  Charta  and 
of  the  trial  by  jury,  but  its  dominant  political  feature  was 
feudalism.  In  depicting  feudal  custom,  Louis  IX  is  chosen 
as  the  chief  figure  because  his  character  and  his  ability 
to  keep  his  vassals  in  order  made  him  one  of  the  great 
mediaeval  overlords. 

The  events  represented  in  this  scene  occurred  in  1241, 
and  are  in  part  described  by  an  eye-witness,  the  Sire  de 
Joinville. 

Louis  IX  (1215-1270):  King  of  France,  Crusader, 
Saint. 

MARGARET  OF  PROVENCE  :  Queen  of  Louis. 

BLANCHE  OF  CASTILE  (1187-1252):  Mother  of  Louis. 

ALPHONSO,  COUNT  OF  POITOU  AND  AUVERGNE  (1220- 
1271)  :  Brother  of  Louis. 

ROBERT,  COUNT  OF  ARTOIS  :  Brother  of  Louis. 
JOHN,  COUNT  OF  DREUX  (b.  1220). 
HUGH,  COUNT  OF  LA  MARCHE. 
PETER,  COUNT  OF  BRITTANY. 
JOHN,  COUNT  OF  SOISSONS. 
COUNT  OF  BOULOGNE. 
COUNT  OF  ST.  POL. 

MONSEIGNEUR,  THE  KlNG  OF  NAVARRE. 
MONSEIGNEUR,  IMBERT  DE  BEAUJEN. 
MONSEIGNEUR,  ENGUERRAND  DE  COUCY. 
MONSEIGNEUR,  ARCHAMBOULT  DE  BOURBON. 
JEAN  DE  JOINVILLE  (1224-1317). 

Archbishops,  Bishops,  Knights,  Ladies. 
Sergeants  of  the  Count  of  Poitou. 

44 


SCENE  IV 

A  FEUDAL  COURT 
KING  LOUIS  IX  AT  SAUMUR,  IN  ANJOU 

(Enter  Alphonso,  count  of  Poitou,  and  his  court) 

ALPHONSO 

Signers,  my  brother  Louis,  King  of  France, 

Hither  to  Saumur  comes,  to  hold  full  court. 

I  will  ask  knighthood  of  his  sainted  hands 

For  me  and  thee,  good  comrade,  John  of  Dreux, 

And  after  will  I  yield  my  fealty 

To  one  who  has  no  equal  on  this  earth 

For  kingship ;  for  he  governs  first  himself, 

His  people  next,  and  by  his  knighthood  brings 

God's  order  on  the  mischief  of  this  world. 

(Enter  King  Louis  and  his  train.     Alphonso  kneels,  kisses 
the  King's  hand,  then  leads  him  to  the  throne) 

LOUIS 

Brother,  this  loving  welcome  speaks  thy  heart 
True  as  of  old.     Now  ask  of  us  some  grace, 
Lest,  ere  we  know,  we  sink  too  deep  in  debt. 

ALPHONSO 

King,  beyond  need  of  purchase  we  are  thine. 
Yet  I  have  craved  long  since  this  boon  of  thee — 
Make  us  thy  knights,  myself  and  John  of  Dreux, 
My  faithful  comrade. 

LOUIS 

Lords,  it  shall  be  so. 

Sire  de  Joinville,  and  thou,  Count  de  la  Marche, 
Bring  swords  and  spurs. 

(The  King  gives  the  right  spur  to  the  Sire  de  Joinville, 
who,  kneeling  on  one  knee  and  putting  Alphonso's  right 
foot  on  his  knee,  fastens  on  the  spur,  signing  the  candidate's 

45 


knee  with  the  cross.  In  like  manner  Count  de  la  Marche 
fastens  on  the  left  spur.  The  King  then  girds  Alphonso 
with  the  sivord,  and  embracing  him,  lifts  his  right  hand  and 
smites  him  on  the  shoulder) 

LOUIS 
Be  thou  a  true  knight. 

(A  priest  holds  up  the  crucifix,  which  Alphonso  touches  as 
he  makes  his  vow) 

ALPHONSO 
I  swear  to  fight  for  God  and  Holy  Church. 

( The  ceremony  is  repeated  for  Count  John  of  Dreux) 

LOUIS 

Keep  ye  your  vows ;  fight  only  for  Lord  Christ, 
Do  nothing  that  ye  would  not  all  men  saw, 
Say  nothing  that  ye  would  not  all  men  heard ; 
Christ  sees  and  hears.     Be  worthy  and  upright. 
Worth  and  uprightness  are  such  pleasant  things 
As  even  to  name  is  sweetness  in  the  mouth. 

(Alphonso,  laying  aside  his  arms,  stands  before  the  King) 

ALPHONSO 

King  and  my  brother,  in  your  fealty 

Put  me,  and  in  your  homage,  for  those  lands 

And  goods  bequeathed  me  by  our  common  father. 

LOUIS 
Wilt  thou  in  all  things  be  my  man? 

ALPHONSO 
I  will. 

(Kneels  and  places  his  hands  between  the  hands  of 
the  King) 

Sire,  I  become  thy  man.     I  promise  thee 
Fealty  for  the  future  as  my  lord 
Against  all  other  men,  living  or  dead, 
And  I  will  serve  thee  as  the  fief  requires. 

46 


LOUIS 

And  I  receive  and  take  thee  as  my  man, 
Giving  thee,  for  a  sign  of  faith,  this  kiss. 

(Alphonso  rises  and  receives  his  sword.     The  King 
addresses  the  court) 

Lords,  ye  behold  this  good  estate,  where  dwell 

Brotherlike,  king  and  followers  at  one. 

Each  hath  his  place,  and  called  by  God  thereto, 

'Tis  his  salvation  to  obey  the  voice. 

The  King,  who  hath  his  throne  from  the  Most  High, 

Is  Heaven's  man ;  and  they  that  hold  from  him 

Are  his ;  and  lower  still,  who  lean  on  them, 

Loyalty  within  loyalty,  are  theirs ; 

So  the  world's  family  reaches  up  to  God, 

Each  in  his  order  perfect,  as  the  stars 

That  keep  their  course,  or  as  the  angelic  host 

Rising  from  thrones  and  principalities 

To  Cherubim  and  Seraphim  and  Powers, 

Yet  perfect  all,  and  equal  in  God's  sight. 

Scorn  not  your  post,  like  Lucifer,  who  aspired 

Out  of  his  place,  and  tumbled  down  to  hell. 

The  English  Barons  from  that  weakling  John 

Wrested  a  charter,  a  mean  lawyer's  writ, 

As  though  to  curb  heaven's  will  before  the  sheriff. 

Yet  heard  I  never  that  their  serfs  had  ease 

From  serving  them !  no  charters  talked  of  there ! 

But  if  they  yield  not  to  the  king,  shortly 

No  man  to  them  will  yield;  the  storied  house 

Of  faith  will  scatter  like  burnt  autumn  leaves, 

One  level  blackness.     Oh,  let  freedom  be 

Obedience,  let  our  charter  be  God's  will ! 

(Alphonso  offers  to  escort  the  King  to  the  banquet) 

ALPHONSO 

Brother,  the  feast  is  ready.     Yet  our  life 

More  from  thy  goodness  profits  than  from  meat. 

(Exeunt) 


47 


In  the  third  part  of  the  pageant  the  religious  and  aca 
demic  aspects  of  the  thirteenth  century  find  their  representa 
tion  in  scenes  where  Roger  Bacon  holds  the  center  of  the 
stage.  Had  men  been  asked  in  Bacon's  time  to  name  the 
greatest  figure  in  the  learned  world  they  would  not  have 
mentioned  the  English  friar.  They  would  have  pointed  to 
Albert  the  Great,  or  to  Thomas  Aquinas. 

It  is  Thomas,  therefore,  greatest  of  the  Schoolmen,  the 
recognised  philosopher  of  the  Roman  Church,  who  speaks 
the  prologue  to  the  scenes  he  yields  to  Bacon.  His  talent 
was  early  apparent  in  Italy,  his  home-land;  it  was  disci 
plined  under  Albert  the  Great  in  Cologne  and  Paris;  it  came 
to  its  full  manifestation  in  the  "Summa"  it  created  for  all 
the  world.  As  a  teacher,  Thomas  not  only  convinced  his 
hearers,  but  he  stirred  them  as  well.  As  a  writer,  he  pre 
sented  the  articles  of  his  faith,  in  question  and  answer, 
reasoned  with  all  the  skill  and  rigor  of  the  logic  of  deduc 
tion,  yet  he  disguised  none  of  the  difficulties  which  its  ene 
mies  might  suggest;  but  he  had  such  command  of  the  teach 
ings  of  the  ancients  and  of  his  contemporaries,  and  so  fused 
them  with  the  spark  of  his  own  genius  that  he  overcame  his 
critics,  and  left  behind  him  the  "final  construction  of  the 
mediaeval  Christian  scheme" 


48 


PART  III 

PROLOGUE 

THOMAS  AQUINAS 

Of  those  who  in  a  troubled  age  were  caught 
Between  two  currents  of  contending  truth, 
I  was  the  reconciler.     One  way  the  Church 
Drew  us,  the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints, 
And  one  way  drove  the  mind  of  Aristotle. 

Hither  by  hands  Arabian — Avicenna, 

Averroes, — came  his  philosophy, 

A  Grecian  gift,  pleasant  and  perilous.     Then 

Young  Abelard,  the  questioner,  who  would  gauge 

By  reason  the  furthest  mysteries  of  heaven, 

Not  in  a  glass  darkly,  but  face  to  face 

Daring  to  look  on  God.     That  humble  man, 

Peter  the  Lombard,  for  a  widow's  mite 

Then  gave  to  Holy  Church  the  Sentences, 

To  lay  the  reckless  seas  Abelard  raised. 

Albert  the  Great,  that  strong  intelligence, 

My  master,  then  arose,  who  greatly  toiled 

To  show  truth  single  in  the  universe, 

And  the  Philosopher,  where  true  at  all, 

One  with  the  Fathers  and  with  Holy  Writ. 

His  task  I  finished,  Thomas  of  Aquino, 

And  wed  indissolubly  our  ancient  faith 

Forever  with  her  ancient  enemy. 

I  showed  the  power  of  reason — not,  like  Abelard, 

Making  presumptuous  mockery  of  heaven, 

But  in  its  realm ;  and  where  the  borders  lie 

I  showed,  between  what  man  himself  can  know, 

And  what  is  knowable,  but  not  by  man, 

And  what  no  man  discovers,  but  receives 

From  Power,  Wisdom,  Love,  which  three  God  is. 

Nature  and  God  make  nothing  vain;  all  light 

Is  to  be  walked  in.     Yet  illusion  oft 

This  sin-enchanted  world  deceives ;  not  all 

That  shining  seems,  is  light.     And  oft  our  wills 

Are  partisan,  less  loyal  to  the  truth 

Than  to  its  radiant  ministers.     Foothills 

Of  reason  we  can  climb,  therefrom  discern 

Mountains  unclimbed,  and  further  heights  therefrom 

Argue,  though  not  discerned.     Reason  alone 

Walks  lowly ;  winged  with  faith,  it  guides  toward  heaven. 

See  now  a  man  whose  reason  guides  toward  earth, 
And  truth  he  yearns  to  worship  in  this  world. 

(Exit) 

49 


The  miracle  play  here  presented  is  adapted  from  the 
Chester  Cycle.  Though  a  liberty  has  been  taken  with  the 
facts,  in  dating  this  particular  play  so  early  and  locating  it 
in  Oxford,  it  furnishes  a  scene  typical  of  the  thirteenth- 
century  English  town. 

"Sumer  is  icumen  in"  is  a  Northumbrian  round.  Our 
text  and  music  come  from  a  manuscript  written  at  Reading, 
forty  miles  from  London,  and  dated  about  1230.  "It  is  the 
only  piece  in  six  real  parts  known  to  exist  before  the  fif 
teenth  century;  it  is  a  strict  canon,  and  the  earliest  canon 
known;  it  also  offers  the  earliest  example  of  a  ground- 
bass." 

The  hymn  "Veni,  veni,  Emmanuel"  was  woven  out  of  the 
Antiphons  used  at  Advent.  Neale,  whose  English  transla 
tion  is  well  known,  believes  that  an  unknown  author  of  the 
twelfth  century  is  responsible  for  the  hymn  as  we  have  it. 
The  text  printed  is  from  Daniel's  "Thesaurus  Hymnologi- 
cus."  The  music  is  old  Plain  Song. 

ROGER  BACON  (1214-1294). 

ROBERT  GROSSETETE  (c.  1175-1253)  :  Rector  Scholarum 
and  Chancellor,  Rector  of  the  Franciscans  at  Oxford,  from 
123$  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  scholar,  translator,  sacred  and 
secular  author. 

JOHN  BASINGSTOKE  (d.  1252)  :  Archdeacon  of  Leicester 
from  1235,  student  of  Greek  at  Athens,  scholar,  gram 
marian,  translator. 

JOHN  PECKHAM  (d.  1292)  :  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
from  1279.  Student  at  Paris,  reader  in  Oxford. 

Members  of  the  Gilds  of  Barbers  and  Waxchandlers. 
Students,  townsfolk,  countrymen,  friars. 


SCENE  I 

BACON  AT  OXFORD 

(Townsfolk  and  students  enter  in  haste,  and  take  their 
places,  looking  eagerly  down  the  street) 

TOWNSFOLK 

The  Gilds  are  coming,  the  Gilds  are  coming, 
This  place  is  best.     The  players  will  be  here. 

(The  Gilds  of  the  Barbers  and  Waxchandlers  appear,  with 
a  Miracle  play) 

MIRACLE  PLAY 
(Enter  Abraham  and  Isaac) 

ABRAHAM 

Now  Isaac,  son,  go  we  our  way 
To  yonder  mount,  if  that  we  may. 

ISAAC 

My  dear  father,  I  will  assay 
To  follow  you  full  fain. 

(Abraham,  being  minded  to  slay  his  son  Isaac,  lifts  up  his 

hands  and  saith  following) 
O,  my  heart  will  break  in  three ! 
To  hear  thy  words  I  have  pity. 
As  Thou  wilt,  Lord,  so  must  it  be, 
To  Thee  I  will  obey. 

ISAAC 

Father,  tell  me  of  this  case, 

Why  you  have  drawn  your  sword, 

And  bear  it  naked  in  this  place. 

ABRAHAM 

Isaac,  son,  peace,  I  pray  thee, 
Thou  breakest  my  heart  even  in  three. 

ISAAC 

I  pray  you,  Father,  keep  nothing  from  me, 
But  tell  me  what  you  think. 

51 


ABRAHAM 
Ah,  Isaac,  Isaac,  I  must  thee  kill ! 

ISAAC 

Alas,  father,  is  that  your  will, 
Your  own  child  for  to  spill 

Upon  this  hill's  brink? 
If  I  have  trespassed  in  any  degree, 
With  a  yard  you  may  beat  me ; 
Put  up  your  sword,  if  your  will  be, 

For  I  am  but  a  child. 

ABRAHAM 

O,  my  dear  son,  I  am  sorry 
To  do  to  thee  this  great  annoy; 
God's  commandment  do  must  I, 
His  works  are  ever  full  mild. 

ISAAC 

Would  God  my  mother  were  here  with  me! 
She  would  kneel  down  upon  her  knee, 
Praying  you,  Father,  if  it  may  be, 
For  to  save  my  life. 

ABRAHAM 

0  comely  creature,  but  I  thee  kill, 

1  grieve  my  God,  and  that  full  ill, 
I  may  not  work  against  His  will, 

But  ever  obedient  be. 

ISAAC 

Father,  seeing  you  must  needs  do  so, 
Let  it  pass  lightly  and  overgo ; 
Kneeling  on  my  knees  two, 
Your  blessing  on  me  spread. 

ABRAHAM 

My  blessing,  dear  son,  give  I  thee, 
And  thy  mother's  with  heart  free. 
The  blessing  of  the  Trinity, 
My  dear  son,  on  thee  light ! 

52 


ISAAC 

Father,  I  pray  you  hide  my  eyes 
That  I  see  not  the  sword  so  keen ; 
Your  stroke,  Father,  would  I  not  see, 
Lest  I  before  it  shrink. 

ABRAHAM 

Ah,  son !  my  heart  will  break  in  three, 
To  hear  thee  speak  such  words  to  me. 
Jesu,  on  me  have  Thou  pity ! 

ISAAQ 

Now,  Father,  I  see  that  I  shall  die. 
Almighty  God  in  majesty, 
My  soul  I  offer  unto  thee ! 
Lord,  to  it  be  kind. 

(Here  let  Abraham  take  and  bind  his  son,  Isaac,  upon  the 
altar;  let  him  make  a  sign  as  though  he  would  cut  off  his 
head  with  his  sivord;  then  let  the  angel  come  and  take  the 
sivord  by  the  end  and  stay  it,  saying) 

ANGEL 
Abraham,  my  servant  dear! 

ABRAHAM 
Lo,  Lord,  I  am  all  ready  here. 

ANGEL 

Lay  not  thy  sword  in  no  manner 

On  Isaac,  thy  dear  darling ; 
And  do  to  him  no  annoy, 
For  thou  dreadest  God,  well  wot  I, 
Who  of  thy  son  hast  no  mercy, 

To  fulfil  his  bidding. 
Therefore  God  has  sent  by  me 
A  lamb  that  is  both  good  and  gay, 
Into  this  place  as  thou  mayst  see, 

Lo,  have  him  right  here. 

53 


ABRAHAM 

Ah,  Lord  of  heaven  and  king  of  bliss, 
Thy  bidding  shall  certainly  be  done ! 
Sacrifice  here  sent  me  is, 
And  all,  Lord,  through  thy  grace ! 

(Exeunt  the  Gild  with  the  Miracle  players) 


( The  townsfolk  who  have  gathered  to  watch  the  play, 
begin  singing) 

Sumer  is  icumen  in, 

Lhude  sing  cuccu; 

Groweth  sed  and  bloweth  med, 

And  springth  the  wode  nu; 

Awe  bleteth  after  lomb, 

Lhouth  after  calve  cu; 

Bulluc  stereth,  bucke  verteth, 

Murie  sing  cuccu. 

Wei  singes  thu  cuccu; 

Ne  swik  thu  naver  nu. 


(As  the  song  ends  the  Friars  are  heard  in  the  distance 
singing.     The  Friars  enter) 

Veni,  veni  Emmanuel ! 
Captivum  solve  Israel! 
Qui  gemit  in  exilio, 
Privatus  Dei  Filio, 
Gaude,  gaude,  Emmanuel 
Nascetur  pro  te,  Israel. 

Veni  o  lesse  virgula! 
Ex  hostis  tuos  ungula, 
De  specu  tuos  tartari 
Educ,  et  antro  barathri. 
Gaude,  gaude,  Emmanuel  etc. 

Veni,  veni  o  oriens! 
Solare  nos  adveniens, 
Noctis  depelle  nebulas, 
Dirasque  noctis  tenebras. 
Gaude,  gaude,  Emmanuel  etc. 

54 


Veni  clavis  Davidica ! 
Regna  reclude  coelica, 
Fac  iter  tutum  superum, 
Et  claude  vias  inferum. 
Gaude,  gaude,  Emmanuel  etc. 

Veni,  veni  Adonai! 

Qui  populo  in  Sinai 

Legem  dedisti  vertice, 

In  Maiestate  gloriae. 

Gaude,  gaude,  Emmanuel  etc. 


(Exeunt  Friars  and  townsfolk) 


FIRST  STUDENT 

What  tale  is  this,  Roger,  that  thou  wouldst  leave  us? 
Can  Mother  Oxford  teach  thee  nothing  more? 


SECOND  STUDENT 

Ay,  and  he  still  must  lead  us  by  the  nose ! 
I  hear  he's  taking  with  him  three  or  four. 


ROGER  BACON 

Jest  not,  good  friends!     I  gladly  would  not  go, 
But  Paris  is  the  mother  of  philosophy. 
There  are  the  masters  of  the  mind;  I  crave 
Her  science,  her  strict  knowledge  of  the  tongues. 
She  is  the  doorway  of  the  ancient  world, 
Whereto  the  flame  and  glitter  of  our  days 
Are  but  the  twilight  of  a  half-filled  lamp. 
Rich  is  the  table  our  young  Oxford  spreads, 
But  knowledge  overseas  surpasses  far 
Fountains  of  youth  or  the  unfailing  loaf 
Travelers  tell  us  of,  but  bring  not  home. 
Yea,  in  the  interchange  of  wit  with  wit 
For  greater  wisdom,  strangers  profit  best ; 
Friendship  oft  kills  the  challenge  of  the  mind. 
We  shall  bring  back  to  England  such  a  light, 
If  God  so  will,  as  time  shall  not  outwear. 

(Exeunt) 

55 


Bacon's  speeches  in  this  scene  are  adapted  from  passages 
in  the  "Opus  Majus"  and  the  "Opus  Tertium."  The  student 
song,  the  "Confessio  Goliardi"  dating  approximately  from 
1193,  is  attributed  to  Walter  Map.  The  music  is  of  a  later 
period. 


SCENE  II 

ROGER  BACON  AT  PARIS 

(Enter  students  of  the  University) 

FIRST  STUDENT 

What  warrant  hath  this  Englishman  to  show 
Our  masters  here  at  Paris  such  contempt? 
He  hath  some  pattern  in  his  crazy  head, 
And  finding  nothing  in  the  world  to  match, 
He  needs  must  wreck  us  all. 

SECOND  STUDENT 

Was  Oxford,  now, 
Too  good  for  him? 

THIRD  STUDENT 
Marry,  'twas  worse  than  this, 
Else  had  he  never  left  the  beef  and  beer. 

FOURTH  STUDENT 

Just  three  months  here,  and  what  a  bag  of  cures 
Already  for  this  sickish  world — new  things 
To  know,  new  ways  to  learn  them ! 

FIFTH  STUDENT 
Here  he  comes. 

(Enter  Roger  Bacon) 

FIRST  STUDENT 

Our  talk,  Dan  Bacon,  rattles  on  thy  name. 
Come,  man,  defend  thyself.     What's  wrong  with  us 
That  makes  you  go  so  strange? 

ROGER  BACON 

No  quarrel  with  you, 

Fellows,  but  with  our  betters  quarrel  enough. 
Hither  I  came  as  to  the  well  of  truth, 
Or  of  such  wisdom  in  the  way  of  books 
As  the  wide  fame  of  Paris  would  imply. 
But  the  old  ignorances  flourish  here, 
And  knowledge  here  is  the  old  muddle  still, 
The  law's  the  study — hey  for  a  fat  purse! 
But  science  and  serene  philosophy 
Are  cripples  here,  and  they  that  use  them,  fools. 

57 


SECOND  STUDENT 
How  wouldst  thou  cure  them,  Roger? 

ROGER  BACON 

I  would  first 

Cast  out  the  make-believe  philosophers, 
Then  by  the  help  of  Aristotle  restore 
True  science.    Here  a  common  know-it-all 
Can  cite  himself  co-equal  with  the  great — 
Aristotle,  Averroes,  Avicenna, 
John  Smith — which  of  you  knows  the  difference? 
One  living  rascal,  not  far  off,  enjoys 
More  credit  with  you  than  all  masters  dead. 
With  deep  compassion  do  I  speak  of  him 
And  of  the  herd  of  long-ears  he  misleads, 
But  without  speaking,  truth  cannot  appear, 
And  truth,  the  Scripture  saith,  is  above  all. 

THIRD   STUDENT 
We  know  your  man!     Touch  somewhat  on  his  sins. 

ROGER  BACON 

He  has  four  faults.    The  first  is  vanity ; 

The  next  is  his  unspeakable  gift  for  falsehood; 

The  third,  voluminous  superfluity ; 

And  fourth,  from  his  philosophy  he  omits 

Useful  and  pleasant  things,  the  principles 

Without  which  what  he  keeps  cannot  be  true. 

THIRD   STUDENT 

Have  at  him,  England,  strike  the  villain  down! 
You've  found  the  way  to  make  the  masters  love  you. 

FOURTH  STUDENT 

When  thou  hast  flayed  the  folly  from  his  bones, 
What  then,  Roger? 

ROGER  BACON 

I  would  amend  the  texts 
For  both  philosophy  and  theology, 
So  we  might  read  just  what  the  ancients  wrote. 
Man's  ignorance  in  general  anchors  firm 

58 


On  four  good  pillars — authority,  the  first, 

That  tells  you  what  is  what,  and  keeps  you  dark ; 

Custom,  the  second — mill-round  for  the  mule! 

The  third,  opinion, — when  you  flatter  me, 

I  flatter  you,  so  each  makes  other  wise ; 

And  last,  the  pride  of  knowledge  unpossessed, 

Our  pride  of  knowing  things  that  are  not  so ; 

These  are  the  fourfold  strength  of  ignorance. 

But  for  divinity  a  special  well 

Is  sunk,  a  fount  of  error  never  dry — 

They  who  translate  are  ignorant  of  tongues, 

Know  nothing  of  what  tongue  the  book  is  in, 

And  nothing  of  the  tongue  they  put  it  into, 

Nor  anything  of  what  the  book's  about. 

So  for  God's  glory  every  day  they  spew 

A  page  of  jargon  to  confound  the  world. 

Neither  philosophy  nor  theology 

Will  prosper  till  we  set  our  books  to  rights. 

THIRD  STUDENT 

Some  sense  in  that,  Roger,  and  no  great  toil ; 
Straining  of  eyes  and  bending  of  backs  will  do  it. 
Then  comes  millennium? 

ROGER  BACON 

This  but  clears  the  way! 
Then  comes  the  master  science,  the  one  art 
Divine, — experiment,  the  door  of  knowledge, 
Nay,  the  foundation  of  it  and  the  roof, 
The  warrant  of  all  thought.     For  arguments 
Are  but  vain  sound  till  the  experiment 
Tries  their  conclusion.    Only  experience — 

THIRD  STUDENT 
The  truth  at  last !     Experience  is  the  thing ! 

(Sings) 

Meum  est  propositum  in  taberna  mori, 
Ubi  vina  proxima  morientis  ori ; 
Tune  cantabunt  laetius  angelorum  chori : 
"Deus  sit  propitius  isti  potatori." 

(Exeunt  the  students  lauyliiny  and  singing.  Bacon 
stands  angry  and  disgusted,  then  e.vits  the  other  side  of  the 
stage) 

59 


This  scene  at  the  University  of  Paris  on  All  Saints'  Day 
in  the  year  1245  represents  Roger  Bacon  at  the  end  of  his 
career  as  a  student.  The  degree  of  Master  of  Theology,  at 
that  time  also  called  the  Doctorate,  was  probably  the 
most  coveted  the  University  could  give.  Ten  to  twelve 
years  of  study  were  necessary  to  attain  it,  after  mastering 
the  more  elementary  subjects.  Save  in  exceptional  circum 
stances  no  one  under  thirty- five  could  receive  the  degree, 
which  was  at  the  same  time  the  license  to  teach.  Bacon's 
speech  is  adapted  from  a  passage  in  the  "Opus  Majus." 

ROGER  BACON  (1214-1294). 

WILLIAM  OF  AUVERGNE  (d.  1299)  :  From  1228  Bishop 
of  Paris  and  Chancellor  of  the  University. 

LORDS  OF  PARLEMENT. 
CANONS  OF  PARIS. 

MASTERS  OF  THEOLOGY  :  Members  of  the  Gild  of  Masters, 
including  Bishops  and  Archbishops,  and  Albertus  Magnus 
(1202-1280),  and  Alexander  of  Hales  (d.  1245),  Presiding 
Master. 

THE  RECTOR  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  :  Head  of  the  Faculty 
of  Arts. 

THE  PROCTORS  OF  THE  FOUR  NATIONS:  The  French  (in 
cluding  all  Romance  countries},  the  Norman,  the  Picard 
(Low  Countries'),  the  English  (including  the  Germans}. 
The  Four  Nations  represented  the  students  of  Arts,  organ 
ized  according  to  countries. 

REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  THE  FACULTIES  OF  CANON  LAW 
AND  MEDICINE. 

THE  PARANYMPHUS  :  Academic  herald  and  secretary  to 
the  Chancellor. 

BACCALARII  FORMATI:  Candidates  for  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Theology. 

YOUNGER  STUDENTS  OF  THEOLOGY,  including  Thomas 
Aquinas  (1225-1274)  and  Bonaventura  (1221-1274). 

60 


SCENE  III 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  PARIS  CONFERS  THE 
DOCTORATE  ON  ROGER  BACON 

(The  Bishop's  Hall.     Enter  the  Masters  and  after  them 
the  Paranymphus) 

THE  PARANYMPHUS 

Masters  and  doctors  in  theology, 

Now  is  All  Saints'  Day,  when  your  votes  are  given, 

Each  second  year,  for  fit  and  chosen  ones 

For  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  heaven. 

This  day  an  English  scholar,  Roger  Bacon, 

Asks  to  be  licensed  Doctor.    He  has  run 

The  long  course  charted  for  aspiring  minds ; 

Ten  years  they  voyage  ere  the  port  be  won ; 

Oft  they  despair,  like  castaways  afloat, 

Till  the  seven  seas  of  weariness  be  past ; 

Now  lights  the  welcome  dove  on  Noah's  boat, 

No  more  the  barren  vigil,  land  at  last ! 

I,  as  a  groomsman,  bid  the  wedding  guests 

Come  to  this  sacrament  this  holy  tide. 

See  on  our  vows  how  rich  heaven's  blessing  rests, 

When  man,  the  child  of  God,  takes  Truth  for  bride. 

(Exit  Paranymphus.     Enter  the  Chancellor,  the  Baccalarii 
Fonnati,  etc.) 

CHANCELLOR 

Masters,  my  messenger  has  summoned  you 

According  to  our  custom,  to  decide 

Whether  the  candidates  who  petition  now 

Shall  have  the  license.    Only  one  name  appears — 

Roger  Bacon,  of  England.    Has  he  performed 

Duly  the  residence,  exercise,  and  acts 

Named  in  the  statutes?    Has  he  proved  himself 

Diligent,  clean  in  morals,  sound  in  faith? 

61 


PRESIDING  MASTER 

Masters,  there  is  some  whisper  of  this  man, 
A  scandal  that  his  doctrine  wanders  wide 
From  our  strict  science  of  theology. 
Reason  he  sets  too  high,  custom  he  scorns. 
What  has  been  held  for  ages  is  to  him 
No  truer  than  the  thing  he  proves  to-day. 
These  are  but  rumors;  yet  to  license  him, 
Without  some  firm  accounting,  were  not  well. 


Masters,  the  candidate  may  be  approved. 
He  has  his  nation's  vote ;  to  me,  their  Proctor, 
He  swears  obedience,  and  to  his  Faculty, 
And  to  his  nation.    Ask  him  what  ye  please 
When  he  is  licensed ;  he  will  answer  well, 
Or  if  he  errs,  accuse  him  to  the  Church ! 

(A  pause} 

CHANCELLOR 

No  further  question?     Do  ye  vote  for  him? 
(They  raise  their  hands — some  reluctantly} 
Bring  in  the  candidate. 

(Roger  Bacon  enters   and  kneels   before   the   chancellor, 
the  others  standing} 

By  the  authority  of  Almighty  God,  and  of  the  Apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  and  of  the  Apostolic  See,  I  give  thee  license 
to  dispute,  to  read  and  preach,  and  to  perform  in  the  Faculty 
of  Theology  all  that  pertains  to  a  Doctor,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen. 

(Places  the  biretta  on  Bacon's  head} 

Do  thou  begin,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen. 

(Bacon  kisses  the  Chancellor's  hand,  and  takes  his  seat 

among  the  Doctors} 

62 


PRESIDING   MASTER 

Doctor,  we  hear  a  question,  whether  thou 
Art  loyal  priest  or  half  philosopher. 
Tell  us  thy  judgment  of  philosophy. 

(After  a  pause,  Bacon  rises) 


BACON 

We  in  the  Church  should  know  philosophy, 

And  in  philosophy  should  obey  the  Church, 

For  in  them  both  a  single  goodness  shines. 

Wisdom  is  one ;  all  pages  that  are  wise — 

Sacred  or  secular — are  mines  of  faith, 

Rich  treasuries  of  doctrine ;  for  God  grants 

Even  to  the  philosophers  His  truth. 

Therefore  to  holy  uses  should  we  bend 

All  human  wit,  lest,  undirected  so, 

It  serve  no  use  at  all.    For  know  we  not 

The  infidel  philosophers  are  damned? 

They,  knowing  God,  yet  glorified  Him  not, 

Therefore  their  works  are  folly,  their  own  words 

Condemn  them.    For  without  the  breath  of  God 

Nor  man  nor  wisdom  lives.    Good  Alfarabius 

Says  in  his  book  on  science,  as  the  boy 

Unlettered  is  to  the  most  learned  man, 

So  is  philosophy  to  the  wisdom  of  God. 

Yet  of  this  world  our  knowledge  well  may  grow, 

Since  man's  inventions  are  imperfect  all, 

And  we  who  coming  later  do  inherit 

Old  instruments  and  disciplines  of  mind, 

Should,  using  them,  ourselves  build  nobler  things; 

For,  saith  Boethius,  nothing  is  more  miserable 

Than  to  move  always  in  the  path  we  know, 

Never  discover,  never  invent,  never  explore. 

We  that  are  called  to  the  immeasurable 
Wisdom  of  God,  if  in  the  faith  dwells  light, 
Should  overstep  whate'er  the  pagan  knows 
And  pass  beyond  his  reach.     His  twilight  dreams 
Should  to  our  vision  minister, — yea,  the  truth 
He  masters,  mastering  him  yet  more, 
Compels  him  captive  to  the  one  true  God. 
Wise  Avicenna  and  Alfarabius, 

63 


Tullius,  Seneca,  and  Aristotle, 

Infidels  all,  yet  turned  their  eyes  on  God, 

As  a  good  soldier  on  his  captain  waits. 

There  is  one  God,  say  the  philosophers ; 

In  essence  one,  whose  wisdom,  goodness,  power, 

Are  infinite ;  one  God  in  persons  three, 

Father  and  Son  and  Spirit,  who  from  nothing 

Created  all.     Philosophers  say  this. 

Further,  they  touch  on  doctrines,  many  a  one, 

Of  Christ  our  Saviour,  of  the  Virgin  Blest, 

Of  angels,  of  the  rising  from  the  dead, 

Of  the  last  judgment,  of  the  life  to  come — 

Blessedness  for  the  obedient,  and  pain 

Eternal  for  the  scorners  of  His  will. 

These  things  are  written  in  philosophy, 

So  constant  in  the  study  of  wise  books, 

Of  Holy  Scripture,  and  all  books  beside, 

Were  the  philosophers.     Should  we  be  less  wise? 

Nay,  let  us  sift  all  wisdom  thoroughly, 

Lest,  being  fools,  we  lose  our  part  in  God. 

(He  takes  his  seat  again.    A  pause) 

PRESIDING  MASTER 

Some  truth  is  here — perchance,  some  danger  too. 
Son,  to  be  humble  is  the  latest  art 
The  wise  man  learns.     Study  humility. 
Snatch  not  too  rudely  at  the  temple  veil. 

(Exeunt) 


w 
8 

§ 

w 

3 
CL 


cr 
n 


Although  Florence  stands  well  outside  of  Bacon's  ex 
periences,  so  far  as  we  knoiv,  yet  the  thirteenth  century  to 
the  average  modern  reader  means  Dante  and  his  city. 

This  scene,  though  fanciful,  is  based  upon  a  well-known 
passage  in  the  "Vita  Nuova."  The  place  is  supposed  to  be 
a  street  near  the  Chiesa  di  San  Martina;  the  time,  May, 
1290,  a  month  before  Beatrice  died.  The  attempt  has  been 
made  to  imagine  an  earlier  Dante  than  the  author  of  the 
"Vita  Nuova,"  a  character  in  process  of  becoming  spirit 
ualised. 

DANTE  ALIGHIERI  (1265-1321). 

BEATRICE  PORTINARI  (June?  1266-June  8,  1290) :  The 
wife  of  Simone  de'  Bardi,  the  heroine  of  the  "Vita  Nuova," 
and  the  inspiration  of  the  "Divina  Commedia" 

GUIDO  CAVALCANTI  (i25o?-i3oo)  :  Florentine  poet, 
zvhom  Dante  refers  to  in  the  "Vita  Nuova"  as  his  best 
friend. 

GIOTTO  DI  BONDONE  (1266-1337):  Florentine  artist, 
disciple  of  Cimabue,  and  intimate  friend  of  Dante. 

BRUNETTO  LATINI  (i2io?-i294)  :  Florentine  statesman 
and  writer,  friend  of  Guido  and  of  Dante,  to  whom  Dante 
pays  a  noble  tribute  in  the  "Inferno,"  xv.  82-5. 

GIOVANNA  :  A  lady  whom  Guido  Cavalcanti  loved,  and 
zvhom  he  called,  in  one  of  his  "ballate,"  "Springtime" 
("Primavera").  In  the  "Vita  Nuova"  (§24)  Dante  records 
his  meeting  with  Beatrice  and  Giovanna,  and  he  plays  upon 
the  name  "Primavera"  making  it  to  mean  "She  will  come 
first,"  because  as  they  walked  this  lady  preceded  Beatrice. 


66 


INTERLUDE 


FLORENCE  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  CENTURY 

(Citizens  of  Florence  pass  in  each  direction.     Enter  Guido 

Cavalcanti,  who  paces  up  and  down;  then 

Giotto  di  Bondone) 

GIOTTO 

Hail,  Guido  Cavalcanti!     Dost  thou  carry 
Hither  the  sorrows  of  our  Florence? 

GUIDO 

Here 

I  lie  in  wait  for  Dante.     Pray  thee,  tarry. 
The  master  Cimabue  learns  to  fear 
A  rival,  so  they  say. 

GIOTTO 

Too  wise  is  he 
To  fear  one,  were  I  one. 

GUIDO 

Thy  turn  is  near, 

Now  the  Bargello  fresco  goes  to  thee. 
Thou  wilt  paint  Dante's  portrait  in,  they  say — 
Perchance  they  say  too  much !     This  penalty, 
To  live  on  idle  tongues,  ye  great  folks  pay. 

GIOTTO 

If  this  be  greatness,  I  have  had  my  taste ; 
Good  master  Cimabue  walked  one  day 
(My  neighbors  vouch  for  this)  across  the  waste, 
Where  I,  a  barefoot  urchin,  kept  the  flock. 
Frescoes  of  sheep  along  a  wall  smooth-faced 
He  found  me  sketching  with  a  bit  of  rock! 

67 


GUIDO 

That  tale  will  live ;  history  thrives  on  such. 
Fame,  like  true  love,  keeps  extra  facts  in  stock 
To  feed  its  faith  on,  it  believes  so  much. 

GIOTTO 

Dante,  now,  swears  his  love-struck  dreams  are  true; 

He's  angry  if  you  put  him  to  the  touch. 

He'll  make  a  saint  of  Beatrice,  ere  he's  through. 

GUIDO 

He  thinks  the  virtues  of  the  Spouse  of  Heaven, 
Veiled  in  this  lady,  walk  before  his  view. 
Strange  if  that  fiery  soul  of  his,  love-driven, 
Should  blazon  in  the  eyes  of  wondering  time 
Her  whom  he  little  knows,  scarce  speaks  to,  even ! 

GIOTTO 

Always  he  will  be  pondering  that  fair  rime 

Of  Guinicelli's,  on  the  gentle  heart, 

How  love  and  gentleness  make  perfect  chime, 

But  ever  love  and  evil  dwell  apart. 

He  takes  her  for  an  angel  sent  to  drive 

Wrath  from  him,  and  love  teaches  her  the  art. 

GUIDO 

Giotto,  to  test  her  influence  now  I  strive. 

He  told  me,  though  he  burn  with  hell's  own  wrath, 

Yet,  should  this  lady  suddenly  arrive, 

Charity  cools  the  flame — yea,  if  he  hath 

Her  salutation,  so  her  lips  but  move, 

Though  his  sworn  foe  that  moment  cross  his  path, 

His  spirit  sings  no  other  tune  but  love. 

GIOTTO 

Could  he  forgive  Corso  Donati  so? 
I  wonder! 

GUIDO 

Even  what  I  was  thinking  of! 
Now,  if  my  little  plot  works,  I  shall  know. 
This  way  Ser  Dante,  ere  the  next  hour  ring, 
Walks  homeward.    Vanna,  in  the  secret  too— 

68 


GIOTTO 

Thy  Primavera,  beautiful  as  Spring? 
How  Dante  liked  the  nickname! 

GUIDO 

Fair  and  fair 

And  fair  again  she  is !     She  plots  to  bring 
Beatrice,  if  heaven  favor,  down  that  stair 
Just  at  the  moment  Dante's  sulphurous  rage 
At  Corso's  name  shoots  up  its  devil-flare. 

GIOTTO 

Be  wary  lest  too  soon  thou  turn  the  page ; 

Prick  him  to  anger  early  in  thy  plan, 

And  she  may  greet  him  in  the  cooling  stage. 

GUIDO 

His  anger  will  not  cool. 

(Enter  Dante) 

Behold  this  man 
That  seemeth  not  himself,  so  changed  he  is! 

DANTE 

Guido,  good  friend,  so  yesternight  began 
Thy  greeting  with  a  challenge  like  to  this; 
Am  I  so  changed? 

GIOTTO 

The  tokens  in  thy  face, 
Dante,  no  bachelor  of  love  could  miss. 
Thou  shalt  be  love's  own  poet,  Guido  says. 

DANTE 
I  would  be  one  who  sings  as  love  shall  tell. 

GUIDO 

So?     What  if  Corso  prosper  in  love's  grace? 

DANTE 

Speak  not  of  him !     Speak  of  Forese  well, 
Call  blessings  on  Piccarda,  but  of  him 
Nothing, — or  pray  God  blast  him  soon  in  hell. 

69 


GIOTTO 

Is  he  so  evil?     Though  his  wit  be  grim — 
I  know  he  called  Vieri  "Peter's  Ass," 
And  Guido  here  "The  Spiggot" — 

DANTE 

Though  his  whim, 
Sayst  thou,  be  for  wife-murder,  let  it  pass! 

GIOTTO 
That  was  not  proved. 

DANTE 

Who  doubts  it?     Such  another 
Is  not,  nor  lived  since  Azzolino  was. 
Florence  he'd  sell  as  he  would  sell  his  mother. 
He  will  not  fight — he  stabs ;  he'll  stab  thee  yet, 
Guido,  though  now  your  feud  ye  feign  to  smother. 

GIOTTO 

The  echo  of  such  anger  is  regret, 
Dante;  thou  art  too  hard. 

DANTE 

Why,  even  the  sainted 
Piccarda  says  his  heart  on  sin  is  set; 
Her  zeal  of  sisterly  forgiveness  fainted, 
When  to  tear  off  her  nun's  veil  he  saw  fit. 
(Enter  Brunetto  Latini) 

GUIDO 

Hail,  Ser  Brunetto,  my  once  well-acquainted 
Councilor;  too  seldom  now  we  meet. 

BRUNETTO  LATINI 

Guido,  the  little  strength  my  long  years  leave  me 

(He  sees  Dante) 

Ah,  Son,  what  anger  on  thy  face  is  writ ! 

DANTE 

We  spoke  of  Corso.     Never  God  forgive  me, 
If  without  wrath  I  name  the  false  and  craven ! 

BRUNETTO  LATINI 

Son,  thy  fierce  justice,  thy  dark  hatreds  grieve  me. 
Bathe  deep  in  love;  once  love  the  heart  hath  laven, 

70 


Even  here  man  grows  eternal  hour  by  hour. 
Follow  thy  star;  thou  shalt  find  glorious  haven. 
Though  for  a  time  this  people,  blind  and  sour, 
Heap  with  ingratitude  thy  loneliness, 
Yet  when  at  last  thy  fame  begins  to  flower, 
All  factions  for  a  share  in  thee  shall  press. 
Then  shalt  thou  be  their  hunger  and  their  food, 
But  far  then  from  the  goat  shall  be  the  grass. 

(Exit) 
DANTE 

If  my  desire  be  filled,  from  this  abode 

Death  shall  not  take  thee  soon.     But  him  who  works 

Evil  against  my  city,  may  his  blood 

Spatter  the  stones  where  now  his  soft  foot  lurks ; 

Dragged  helpless  at  the  tail  of  a  wild  beast 

May  his  bad  carcass  toss  by  leaps  and  jerks 

Toward  the  abyss,  where  pain  shall  ne'er  be  ceased ; 

Faster  at  every  step  may  the  steed  go, 

Till  of  his  flesh  remain  no  shred  the  least. 

May  the  heavens  turn  not  long,  ere  this  be  so ! 

(Enter  Giovanna  and  Beatrice,  who  in  this  order  cross 
the  stage) 

BEATRICE 
Hail,  Dante ! 

(Exit  Giovanna  and  Beatrice) 

GIOTTO 

(Whispers  to  Guido) 

Now  the  spell  is  on  him! 

DANTE 

Ye 

Who  watch  in  the  everlasting  day,  where  no 
Sleep  nor  night  hinders,  but  all  truth  ye  see, 
And  there  the  bread  of  angels  satisfies, 
Even  now  ye  give  of  your  felicity 
Foredream  and  promise !     Make  all  scholars  wise 
With  that  clear  wisdom  whereon  God  afar 
Was  thinking  when  He  made  the  happy  skies ! 
Grant  us  the  love  that  moveth  sun  and  star ! 

(Exeunt) 
71 


This  speech  is  based  upon  what  seem  fair  inferences  from 
Bacon's  own  words  in  the  "Opus  Majus"  and  the  "Opus 
Tertium."  Whether  or  not  he  was  right  in  his  account  of 
himself,  this  is  the  sort  of  account  he  gave.  The  date  of 
the  scene  is  supposed  to  be  1294. 


SCENE  IV 

ROGER  BACON  IN  OLD  AGE 
(Enter  Bacon  alone) 

ROGER  BACON 

After  experiments  innumerable 

I  try  old  age,  neglect,  and  loss  of  friends. 

Is  there  advantage  from  neglect  of  me? 

Or  do  the  stars  to  wisdom  favorable 

Withdraw  their  light? 

Darkness  my  vigil  ends, 

Darkness  and  insult  and  foul  jealousy. 

Franciscan,  am  I?  a  cursed  friar 

Who  to  be  poor  should  labor  hard, 

Not  meddle  with  God's  mysteries,  nor  blight 

The  ignorance  of  my  betters?     Abelard, 

Thou  too  wast  insolent,  thou  blessed  briar ! 

How  thou  didst  sting  their  shoulders,  God  be  praised ! 

God  grant  my  lash  has  swollen  higher 

The  welts  thy  wholesome  scourging  raised! 

Here's  my  old  bitterness. 

Meekness  I  never  mastered, 

Nor  learned  that  fine  address 

To  prove  my  man  a  fool,  yet  spare  his  pride. 

Yet  I  hold,  an  honest  man, 

Lest  error  fatten  this  world's  troubles, 

Cheerfully  brings  his  thoughts  to  strict  account ; 

Only  a  dastard, 

Once  he  is  astride, 

Would  rather  hurt  his  fellows  than  dismount. 

In  Paris  long  ago  I  ran 

The  pleasant  gauntlet  of  their  hate 

Merely  for  pricking  their  pet  bubbles. 

Hatred  I  got  instead  of  thanks ! 

73 


Oxford,  my  mother,  though  in  youth 

I  left  thy  calm  and  kindly  halls 

For  some  sweet  wilderness,  where  truth 

Unearned,  like  manna,  daily  falls, 

Until  my  folly  spent  its  rage, 

Thy  patient  shrewdness  bade  me  roam; 

Then  from  my  futile  pilgrimage 

Without  reproach  didst  take  me  home. 

A  quiet  room,  a  shelf  for  books, 

The  instruments  his  science  asks, 

For  nothing  more  the  scholar  looks, 

But  settles  there  and  does  his  tasks. 

Oxford,  thy  gift  was  peace,  the  mood 

To  follow  truth  from  cause  to  cause, 

And  comradeship  to  stir  the  blood, 

And  for  a  subtle  strength,  applause. 

Yet  the  pure  spring  was  changed  to  brine. 

Even  here  the  malice  showed  itself  at  last, 

But  through  no  bitterness  of  mine. 

All  knowledge  to  the  fool  is  sheer  offense ; 

First  a  small  hand  of  envy,  then  a  cloud, 

Then  the  storm  gathers  fast. 

They  hinted  harmless  magic,  till  their  sense 

Of  unused  virtue  once  awoke, 

Then  shrieked  their  folly  long  and  loud 

In  tales  of  barter  with  the  fiend 

And  fables  of  a  brazen  head  that  spoke. 

Who  of  his  cloth  of  time  would  lose  one  shred 

To  put  speech  in  a  brazen  head? 

Too  common  is  that  miracle,  God  knows! 

F'V  :    •  "- ~>~3v  r* .'.'   -I*'":/'  ^ 

Clement,  thou  kindly  Father,  dost  thou  see 

From  the  high  station  where  Christ's  Vicars  rest, 

How  far  astray  thy  purpose  goes? 

Justice  was  thy  heart's  desire ; 

Yet  truth  and  I  abide, 

Wasted,  forgot,  old  prisoners  untried, 

Only  the  flame  of  righteous  ire 

Warming  a  little  life  within  the  breast. 

Thou  didst  command  my  doctrine  to  be  brought, 

Thyself  wouldst  weigh  within 

What  error  lurked,  what  wilful  sin ; 

I,  with  God's  praises  singing  in  my  brain, 

Laid  bare  to  thee  my  boldest  thought ; 

74 


Twice  I  wrote,  and  once  again, 

My  knowledge,  my  conjecture,  and  my  hope; 

Three  books  I  sent  thee  by  his  hand  who  best 

Could  show  the  method  and  the  scope. 

Ah,  my  taste  of  phantom  joy ! 

The  Titan  burdens  of  thy  days 

Never  the  mood,  the  moment  gave, 

Till  to  the  unremembering  grave 

World-weary  thou  didst  go. 

Or  finding  with  the  impartial  gold 

Confused,  too  oft  the  harsh  alloy 

Of  my  unbridled  bitterness, 

Not  wholly  fit  for  blame  or  praise, 

Therefore  didst  thou  leave  the  tangle  so? 

Now  comes  old  age ;  my  time  is  spent. 

Yet  Christ,  who  gave  the  knowledge  of  Himself 

To  doubting  Thomas,  not  by  argument, 

But  by  the  very  touch  of  hands,  draws  near ; 

Not  without  hope  I  go. 

Sometimes  I  see  far  off,  in  these  last  hours, 

Life  without  fetters,  manhood  without  fear 

Walking  with  God — this  world  more  wonderful 

As  it  is  known,  men  nobler  as  they  know. 

I  see  strange  magic  flowing  from  the  mind ; 

No  more  disease  or  sorrow  of  the  dust, 

But  nature  comprehensible  and  kind; 

I  see  new  cities  rising  in  new  lands, 

Kings  become  diligent  and  just, 

Man  by  the  labors  of  his  hands 

Free  as  the  air;  I  see  weird  navies  riding 

Higher  than  the  eagle  sweeps, 

And  with  Leviathan  deep-hiding 

Man  in  a  shell  of  safety  creeps ; 

His  voice  surrounds  him ;  in  the  sky  he  hears, 

And  answers  from  the  mountain  peaks ; 

At  last  the  universe  hath  ears, 

The  mind  unhindered  speaks. 

Harmless  at  last,  the  sword, 

Man's  sternest  ignorance,  is  laid  away. 

Grant  me  in  heaven  a  place — yea,  grant  us,  Lord, 
On  earth  a  clear  remembrance  in  that  day. 

(Exit) 

75 


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